REstart: Bleach
by UninstallMe
Summary: When I was born, the doctors told my parents I would not survive the week; I have been breathing for seventeen years... and they were right. Death did not come as a surprise to me, but the man at the end of it and his offer did. I knew he must have been the devil, but he knew how to sell his deal well... I wanted to genuinely live. I wanted a REstart. (SIOC)(Quincy)
1. S1: A Deal With The Devil's Son

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence. **

**Hello, and welcome to my first Fanfic, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it. I decided to start this story first as a way to practice and experiment with my writing, and second, because as much as I love the fantastic world Tite Kubo created in Bleach, I still find myself craving more of it. **

**Especially more about Quincy. **

**I will put this as my first and final warning about the matter. **

**This is a Quincy centric retelling of the story. I won't spoil you with the details, but do expect Quincy to take the forefront here.**

**Oh, and I don't own Bleach! **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Season 1: Welcome Home**

**Episode 1: A Deal With The Devil's Son**

**United States – California – St. Martin Hospital**

When I was born, the doctors told my parents I would not survive the week; I have been breathing for seventeen more years since that fateful day.

And they were right.

My world was composed of fake green and smiles, four walls that were once white and now are filled with painted palm trees surrounded me, A single window cast the light of the sun upon them to my left, and lastly my bed which was several sizes larger than I could ever be. If I could have moved, I could have swum in it.

Elephants, lions, zebras, and even a dragon smiled at me from their homes in the plastic tiles of the rooftop where my father had painted them with his unskilled yet caring hands long ago.

In a stand between the bed and the window, nudged in between the machines with their cables connected throughout my body, two picture frames stood in penitence. One was empty, and the other had a photo with a cropped corner of me when I was a newborn and still had a little bush of brown hair crowning my head.

Keeping myself upright in the bed took effort and made breathing so much harder, even with the long tube that went inside my mouth from the interior of the breathing mask, my lungs ached, and a rebellious cough forced my teeth to bite into the plastic.

I laid down into the softness of the pillows, and my eyes left to wander around once more.

There was a lonely wooden chair close to the entrance and the bathroom's door; she was my most trusted companion and friend; she knew of all my worries and never judged me for my eternal silence. A gray suitcase slept on top of her, I had never opened it myself, but I knew that inside it were various changes of clothes that my parents used when they still came to visit and stayed with me through the scary nights.

The last time anyone touched that suitcase was seven years ago.

My only visitors these days are the nurses that come to change the IV bags once in the morning, and once before it goes dark. They never spoke, but I didn't judge them for it.

Between both doors, there was a small mirror hanged on the wall in such a way that made it look like it was hanging from one leaf of the painted palm tree behind it. It was in a very awkward position, and I could only see myself in it if I moved to a specific point of my bed.

I used to do it a lot; it tired my limbs, but I enjoyed looking at my reflection, and if I angled my head right, the light of the lamps would hit my clean-shaven skull and ricochet into the mirror-like some doomsday laser of death and damnation from a comic book. With little to do in here, I had to get creative sometimes to escape the looming eyes of that creature called boredom.

The door's hinges whined like a kicked dog, and a middle-aged nurse with a motherly smile on her face and a freshly squeezed IV bag in a tray walked in, her heels created a funny rhythm together with the semi-constant peeping of the machines.

I wished I could giggle.

She made a whole tour around my bed, peering at the screens, and nodding silently to herself; her eyes never went anywhere close to me. She disconnected the empty bag and replaced it with the new one before she finally acknowledged my presence as she pulled my arm out from the covers of the bedsheets, I felt her fingers prodding on the needle and the bandages around it, but I didn't watch.

She left without saying a word, the hinges of the door, giving their goodbyes to her for me.

Time is a strange thing, in theory, it always moves at the same speed, but although the sun always seems to go away so slowly every other day. Today was different; the incandescent light outside the window ran away from the sky as if it knew precisely the thoughts that lingered in my mind and wanted nothing to do with them.

The green digits in the breathing machine kept on counting the minutes and hours; I keep looking at it even after the sun disappeared from the horizon. When the clock hit midnight, I took a long gulp of air and dragged my body, wriggling like a worm towards the window until my shoulder reached the end of the bed and hanged from the side.

I was too lazy to move my head to look; I blindly waved my arm around to grab onto the IV stand, my knuckles connected with the cold metal, and the stupid thing went away from my reach, the racket of its wheels laughing at me as it ran.

I wanted to groan but is not like I could. I turned my head around and zeroed in the pole, I took it and wheeled the damned rod closer, and pressed it against the bed so that I could push myself upwards with its help.

My arms trembled like leaves around the IV stand, the pole moved a little, and I felt a small spike of fear every time I heard the little wheels whimper under my weight; Thankfully the thing held on and after twenty long seconds I was sitting in the bed with my legs dangling in the air.

Like someone testing the waters of a swimming pool before cannonballing in it, I poked the floor with my big toe; it was cold like ice, that was not a surprise. I think I took more time poking the ground a dozen times more than the actual time it took me to slid out of bed and steady myself.

I probably looked like a mixture of a witch and the hunchback of Notre dame; I held onto the IV stand for dear life for almost a whole minute of trembling and spikes of pain as my bones acclimated themselves with gravity.

I made a tentative step toward the breathing machine, but the IV stand wheels didn't get the memo that I didn't plan on continuing; the stupid thing slid forward, and I had to play catch up if I didn't want my forehead to have a very romantic meeting with the machine's screen.

The traitorous wheeled pole ended up doing that for me, it crashed into the machine, and my shoulder smashed against it.

Not five minutes into my plan and things had already been set on fire, gone downhill from a cliff and died against the hard rocks underneath.

Great, just great.

I abandoned the stupid pole temporarily as I leaned against the machine, and I put all my attention into the touchscreen.

For all the ignoring and silent treatment I always got from the nurses, they never really did anything to hide what they were doing from me, I don't think they ever considered that I could be paying attention to their actions at all. Most of them probably thought me already a vegetable even though I could wiggle a little.

Years with nothing better to do had helped me accumulate a vast library of knowledge in how to operate the machine; ironically I didn't actually know what the actual technical name of this thing was, I only called it the breathing machine because it was the one with its long tube currently making its home down my throat.

I went through the touchscreen's menu and reached the button to turn it off, but then I hesitated. Midnight was when the nurse's shift happened, and nobody would be paying attention to the monitors for at least fifteen minutes. Still, I wasted time here as I fought a surge of second thoughts because turning it off would be the first gate before the point of no return.

The button glowed green, and I felt as if it was taunting me; with one last glare, I stamped my finger on it, and with one peep, the screen turned black; I felt the tube in my mouth go flat as the stream of air stopped coming.

I propped my stomach into the machine so I could free my hands to hold the tube; I gave an experimental tug and felt the thing slither inside me. Thank god I had lost any gagging reflex long ago. I pulled harder, and the plastic snake slowly emerged with just a couple of hits and bumps along the way that made my eyes tear up a little.

This was it, The point of no return. I dragged what was left of the tube out, and it broke the seal holding it to the breathing mask. I threw it away and breathed my first unsupported lungful of air in years.

It hurt so much. The air flowed inside me with a cold burn that spread inside my veins and fought for dominance against the old aches that were already there.

I love it.

I snorted in delight, the pain flared again, but I didn't care about it. It wasn't like it was going to bother me for much, and I wanted to enjoy this experience for as long as it lasted.

I was giddy as I made my way to the door, one tiny step at the time with the IV stand still carrying more of me than my own two feet could handle. Opening the door was a bit of a challenge; I had to try and pull it back while keeping myself up at the same time as the stupid thing tried to close itself. I hoped whoever decided that putting a coil into doors so they would close by themselves was having an excellent burning coal's treatment in hell.

There was not a soul present in the corridor outside, I had initially planned to use the stairs at the end of it which led directly to my destination, but I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it down the steps with the IV stand. Going to the elevators would be the safe choice, but that also meant passing through the nurses' station.

I gulped, every step closer I made felt like it was louder and louder. By the point, I reached the last room before the station I was holding my breath and would have been walking in the tip of my toes if I could have managed it.

The nurses' station was like a small office with only a countertop and a little waist-height door separating it from the corridor; the two elevators were right beside it on the other side from where I was standing. I poked my head over the wall, and after a short inspection, I smiled.

There was nobody there yet.

I didn't waste any more time; I went to the elevators as fast as I could shuffle my tired limbs.

I reached the panel and went to touch the down button; the stupid IV stand decided it was a beautiful moment to wheel away, and I ended up pressing both buttons as I did my best not to fall to the floor.

"Shit." my eyes went agape as the word left my mouth, my voice sounded more like a burp than anything, but it amazed me. I felt both wonder and utter annoyance because there I was, finding out I still could talk after so many years without having done it, and the first thing that comes out of my mouth is 'shit?'

Way to go me, way to go.

I got into the elevator with no much trouble, and thankfully it was going down. The trip down the three floors came with an enjoyable add-on of a flute solo and my failure to stop saying random words just for the sake of hearing my voice.

When the doors opened, I hid on the side and scouted the hallway before I got out. The echo of voices in the lobby made me nervous, but luckily the elevators didn't directly connect to it, there was a short corridor in between them, and I didn't need to go that way either.

My goal was in the other direction, through the walkway that went into the now-closed cafeteria and the gift shop – why is there a gift shop in a hospital anyway? – and into the visitors' parking lot.

I waved my hands at the automatic doors and giggled a little as they opened with the power of the force. That was one thing I could scratch off my to-do list.

I took one step out, while the air conditioning shot a stream of cold air against my back.

I took another, and the stand rattled as it went through the door's limits.

A third step, and I hesitated.

If I took another one, I would leave the roof. There would be nothing between my head and the sky.

I remember long ago when I was still a little girl, and my mom used to visit me. She once told me a story about her purple balloon, and how the moment she had let go of it outside, her balloon had been lost to the sky.

I knew it was silly to think about it now; it is not like I would magically start to float, but… but.

I closed my eyes, took a long breath, and gave my fourth step.

And…

And…

I didn't drift upwards.

I opened my eyes but didn't look up, the yellow-colored stone road of the sidewalk clashed with the black asphalt beside it, I would have gone with a different design honestly, it made me think of the Wizard of Oz, like the knockoff to the Chinese knockoff of the Wizard of Oz kind of thing. And I mean this is a sort of high-end hospital and…

I groaned and looked up.

I was left speechless.

The sky was beautiful; it didn't matter that it wasn't like in the movies or Tv, or that I had seen it many times before from my window. It was amazing.

There was not a single star, only half of the moon was brightening the world, and dark rainy-looking clouds hid a quarter of it.

It was just so vast.

I couldn't stop looking at it; my feet kept going forward, and I shuffled together with my IV stand like a drunkard without blinking once.

I ignored the pain, I forgot about the air that wasn't reaching my lungs any longer; I didn't care about the black spots in my vision or the cold in my skin. I was happy right there.

The sky was beautiful.

Seventeen years, I had existed inside the hospital, hooked up to more machines than I cared to remember. My time had been spent in that room with only the tv, books, and manga to give me an idea of the world outside.

And here I finally was, I had existed for seventeen years, and finally. Finally, at the end of the road, as my legs gave away underneath me and I fell harshly into the golden cobblestones, with the sound of my skull cracking against them as the final note of my song.

Finally.

I had lived.

* * *

**Unknown – Uknown – Uknown**

The feeling of vertigo snapped my eyes open.

I was falling fast, and I couldn't see much before I collided into the dark waters, the force of the impact made me rebound a little, and my head resurfaced for just enough time for me to gulp air before I was swallowed back again.

I trashed like a wild animal with my fear and confusion mixed like a weird, surreal cocktail of drugs and alcohol. Rather than hold onto the bit of air that I had in my mouth, I tried to scream only for said air to escape in mocking bubbles.

I didn't know where I was, what was going on or happening. The waters around me were calm like the ones of an undisturbed pond, yet I felt myself plunging deeper into them as if I was weighted by chains connected to buckets of solid cement.

I fought against the pull to no avail. Waving my arms madly and flapping my legs until my muscles gave up on me and I could move no longer.

As I stopped flailing, it didn't take me long to notice something important; I was not drowning. The air had run from my lips, yet I breathed hard and felt my lungs fill, not with water, but neither with air exactly. I just knew I wasn't dying, and that turned off my flight instinct.

I was still slowly drifting down, but the waters around me were not perturbed with my passing, it was almost as if I wasn't there, like a ghost. But I couldn't confirm it without something substantial to test it.

I still had my white hospital gown on, and I pinched it between my fingers, but I couldn't use it as a proof that I wasn't a ghost, most ghost stories I have read always had the spirit wearing clothes that were just as ghostly as they were.

There was nothing else in the dark waters, they were empty even though I could see so much of it, there weren't any lights either, but my sight was untroubled by it.

I still recalled very clearly collapsing in the sidewalk of the parking lot, so it didn't take more than just putting two and two together for me to understand that this was perhaps what being dead was all about.

Maybe this was heaven? Probably not, I wasn't much of a Christian believer, unlike my parents, but I knew enough to remember that suicide was a sin, and although I had not literally taken my own life… well, it wasn't that far from the truth.

This place had to be no other than hell. It was kind of anticlimactic, I was expecting a burning world with just a hint of world-ending fire falling from the sky, with scorching swimming pools of lava, and a whole fraternity party of demons and imps trying to poke people with their oversides forks to seal the deal.

Instead, I got…this?

An existence floating down a seemingly voidless ocean of dark, tranquil waters for all eternity, all alone?

Alone?

Was this the payment for those five minutes alive? I had to spend my existence in eternal solitude?

I panicked.

I trashed, I flailed and wailed wildly and uncontrollably, I was like a kid with a fork stuck into the wall socket. I opened my mouth and shrieked only for quiet bubbles to escape my lips.

This was not fair! None of it was fair! Why did I have to pay like this for only five minutes of what everyone else got for free?! No, no, no, no, no; five minutes wasn't enough; it was not anything near enough.

I wanted more; I needed more.

I wanted to live, to walk free, to run, to jump. To feel loved and give it back, to embrace someone or laugh with them. I fought gravity; I tried to grab something even when I knew there was nothing, but the waters didn't care for what I thought.

A blinding golden light came from the deep below, and I squinted my eyes to protect them, I tried to look, but it was too bright. Was that the light at the end of the road?

I trashed harder; I didn't want to go in there, not now, not ever.

I didn't care if that light sent me to heaven or hell, I didn't want to go, I just wanted to live a little more.

Who was I kidding, a little wasn't enough, those five minutes of life had not quenched my thirst but increase it, I had become an addict to a new drug, and now the universe was taking it away just as I was about to sniff the bloody thing.

My arms moved around, my legs kicked, and I kept trying to scream so much that a whole cloud of bubbles had materialized above me, creating a trail behind my wake.

I only wanted a year of life, a week? Maybe a day, please anything was fine, I just wanted more, please.

The light was coming closer; I couldn't keep my eyes open without it stinging them savagely.

Why was it so bad for me to want a little more? I wished for more, please.

Please.

Please, someone, save me. Please just one minute more, just let me feel the warmth of someone else for one minute. Five seconds? Anything? Please. Anyone, anything, please save me, I beg you all.

Save me.

I don't care who does it, please somebody, something save me!

Something coiled around my left wrist; it slithered around my arm and took hold of me hard enough to make my bones pop. Another soundless scream ran out of me as the pressure increased.

Suddenly I was pulled upwards, the dark waters and gravity fought to keep me in their greedy claws, but the pressure in my arm increased, and I was dragged faster and faster.

The light stayed behind, and the darkness came back in force.

The thing pulling me, slithered further down my arm until it looped my whole shoulder, and I couldn't do anything about it because the pressure of the waters made me unable to raise my other arm to try and fight its grasp.

A sound like nails on a chalkboard came from below, the thing making it was a ball of pure light that soared beside me, going above and then flying directly at me like a homing missile, but before it got near, a dark tendril of black muscles came from above and speared it.

The light ball exploded with the sound of broken glass and enough brightness to illuminate the thing pulling me up, and I let out a muted scream because it was another of those black tendrils.

The nail on chalkboard sound came again, with enough force to make me wish I was deaf, the noise was jarring and painful; I looked down to see what caused it and flinched.

A swarm of light orbs was coming, thousands upon thousands. So many of them it was like that whole bright bottom that I had seen before had decided to rise for the occasion.

And they were all coming toward us.

They came, and as the blinding light approached, the dark fought back. A myriad of worm-like tendrils flew from above and impaled a thousand of the bright spheres, some of the fleshy tendrils missed the mark and instead got burned to ashes by the balls.

I was front row and center to a war that I had no idea who to root for or what it was about; I couldn't even start to think that all of this could be only for me.

But yes, my thoughts were confirmed the moment two of those lights balls got close, they dodged a dozen more tendrils and went directly after me. The first one got almost to my feet before one of the tendrils caught up with it and punctured it right in the middle.

The other didn't get so close, three tendrils tried to stop it from all sides, but the sphere dodged around them like a spaceship flying around meteorites in a sci-fi movie. But then a fourth bigger tendril with noticeable pulsing veins made of a bright sky blue color came and separated into a dozen smaller ones that trapped the sphere before swallowing it whole. After a second, the whole tendril burst in bright light after the ball died inside it.

More bright spheres came and died; I was hypnotized by a show that was probably a horrific and bloody battle but was entirely too alien for me; the complete lack of blood or guts swimming around, and my morbid curiosity kept me from truly realizing it.

I was stunned, and the tendril pulling me took advantage of my lack of fight to move me around and side to side like a ragdoll to dodge the incoming spheres that we're able to reach us.

One more got close, it was catching up to my feet, and then even when it reached, it ignored them and came closer until it was swimming parallel to my chest. It wouldn't touch me, and I stared at it like a moth to the flame.

I felt like it was looking back at me; it didn't have eyes or any particular features, it was quite literally a ball made of a bright light that was luckily not strong enough to scald my eyes.

More spheres came but were quickly killed off, I didn't know why the tendrils ignored the one in front of me, but although this one was moving in sync with me and my taxi tendril, none of the worm-like things had come for it.

It was waiting for something, I don't know how I could tell, but at that moment, both the dark and the light around me were waiting for something, for me to do something. I had no idea what either of them wanted.

I don't know what the most logical or sensible thing to do would have been; I just knew I didn't want to go back down.

I shoved my feet at it and tried to kick it away, I failed miserably, not only was I against the strong currents of the waters, but I was also tired from my mad trashing from earlier, but my action sent a signal that was seemingly understood by both sides.

The sphere charged at me and was quickly introduced to the tip of a tendril from above.

I prepared myself for more to come, but suddenly I was being yanked out of the waters.

In the panic and confusion, the first thing to come to my head was the odd thought that the water was more akin to a sort of a thick dark gray liquid like honey. Then came back vertigo, and I screamed.

At least I could hear my girly shriek this time around, so that's a good thing.

I flew out of the water like a fish in a hook, the tendril still very much twisted all over my arm, I closed my eyes and prepared myself to belly splash against something hard and painful but instead I was met by a pair of strong arms that caught me bridal style.

"Congratulations," said a voice like dust and gravel. "Your prayers were heard."

I opened one eye a little.

He was a man wearing a ragged black cape, middle-aged if I had to guess, he had long black hair that flowed down his back and around his long face with bangs of his hair slithering around his face like black blood from a wound. Pale skin laid over his pronounced cheekbones and his broad chin, with only a massive mustache for facial hair, but his most striking feature was his reddish-brown eyes that made me feel like a kid looking up to their abusive father just as the man prepared to beat them.

He smiled, and I felt cold sweat travel down my spine.

"Are you, are you the devil?" I felt like slapping myself after asking that.

He chuckled like sand over paper but didn't answer my question.

"Tell me, did you knew that poison and venom are not the same?" he turned around and began walking.

"What?" that nonsecular fact took me by surprise, and he knew it, the bastard chuckled again.

I was going to give him a comment about how he could put something poisonous on his behinds, but that was when I took notice of our surroundings, and my mouth fell flatly on my chest.

A jungle straight out of the worse acid trip had come to life.

Giant trees of spiky black bark and sky blue fleshy leaves mockingly waved in the air as if they were palm trees, flesh bags with eyes hanged from them like fruits ready for harvest. The ground was hidden behind a bluish, ghostly miasma that moved like smoke around the man's legs as he walked.

Giant tendrils of dark flesh and bright blue veins the size of skyscrapers danced in the horizon in conjunction with gigantic blueish serpentine creatures with dragon-like heads and fiery bright eyes.

But the worse was the Eye.

No sun or moon cast their placid light upon this world, but the Eye that floated in the sky, four of the dragon-snakes surrounded it like chains and held it in place as it stared right at us.

"hum," the man grunted, I ignored him; I was too scared to feel embarrassed about peeing over his arm.

He didn't move his arm or dropped me on the floor; he kept walking into the jungle unbothered by my reaction.

"It is terrifying, is it not?" he said casually, "I still taste the feeling in my bones, doesn't matter how many times I have come to visit here."

I wanted to ask what sane person would come to visit this place, but I kept my mouth shut.

He continued as the smoke below danced around his knees. "You cried, girl, you screamed, shouted, and begged… and for what? The gods and rulers of your universe care not for the wishes of a mere soul, but I am not one of them."

"Wh- what do you mean?"

He stopped and stared directly at me, his smile disappeared, and thankfully that made him look way less creepy.

"I understand what it feels to be forgotten."

That clicked right on me, I flinched in his arms and couldn't stop myself from asking, "You do?"

He nodded, and his eyes lost focus as the memories flowed in his mind. "They first come every day, then every couple of days until the visits become monthly, one day they don't come back anymore without a goodbye. You hate them for a while, but that hatred quickly turns back on you. You realize they can't stand looking at you shriveling up anymore, and you forgive them… instead, you hate yourself for being weak, being nothing."

I shaky breath escaped me, the sting of tears harassed my eyes.

"Your gods won't save you; they already forsook you, nobody will give you another chance in your universe… but I can give you one in mine."

"Can, can you do that?"

He smiled again, and somehow, this time was a genuine smile, from one breath to another, he transformed from the creepy old devil in this wretched hell into a grandpa or a nice distant uncle.

He nodded for an answer and began to walk again.

"I can give you another chance… not in your world, but mine. I can't promise you more."

"You are the devil, aren't you?"

He chuckled again, and I wasn't surprised that even his laugh had somehow changed to sound even more gentle. I was falling down his weave of lies, and I couldn't muster the dread inside me to feel any panic. I was trapped, and I was calm about it.

"What do I have to give you in return? My soul?" I asked him.

"Your soul is of no interest to me, child. You will become an agent of my prophecy with your mere existence. Although my world is much like yours, it is different as well, and it is bound to a future, not unlike the one you see around us. The people of my world do not understand this and fight me…"

I was entranced in his story, my head slowly laying against his warm chest; I knew for sure that every word that came out of his lips could have been a lie. If he were indeed the devil like I believed, then he would lie with every cell of his being, but I found myself not caring.

"I have rewritten history time and time again," he continued, "yet trying to do so with the same pieces have led me to the same results…it is time for a new one to prove its worth."

We stopped right in front of an altar, it was made of white stone and filled with cracks, and fleshy blue tendrils that reminded me of jungle vines, right in the center of the platform was what looked like a stone bathtub filled with a shining blue liquid that forced me to squint.

He slowly got me on my feet, I tried to stand on my own, but I couldn't hold my weight for even one breath, I thought I would fall, but he held me in place with one of his massive hands against my waist. I had not noticed it before, but he was so tall that he towered over me like a god.

"That body of yours is brittle and weak. Useless." He commented, and I looked to my feet in shame.

Suddenly I heard a massive tendril come from above, and before I looked up, a body fell right in front of us smashing headfirst into the altar and making me flinch and cry in fear.

If the woman wasn't dead before, then the fall would have done the job.

I couldn't see her face, but the rest of her sprawled dead body was there in front of my eyes for them to wander, she was small like me and slim but not in a sickly way like me. Her long raven hair hid most of her head, and she was wearing a white and light blue uniform that reminded me of something straight out of Nazi Germany.

"She is of no use to me anymore," the devil said, "you won't share her story, her memories will be long gone, but her body and my blood will serve as the raw material for a new one that I will bestow upon you."

He kicked the body, and it fell into the altar's waters, I cringed when I heard her scream, and I realized that she was somehow still alive, but that lasted a heartbeat as she was eaten by the glimmering liquid.

The devil kneeled next to the tub while he held me with no effort; he was gentle with me and sat me on his knee like a child. I got distracted with looking at one particularly massive glowing bubble in the liquid grow larger and larger until it popped, it was like one of those disgusting concoctions that bad chefs would make in anime series and force their friends to try.

I gulped.

"What will you do now, my dear?" he asked as he patted me on the back.

"Do I have to… jump into that?" another bubble burst, and I flinched, I would have fallen from his knee if he had not held me with his hands.

"It won't hurt, but you don't have to do it. I won't force you."

"And what happens if I don't want to?"

"You will go back to the sea of souls and drop to the soul society of your world."

I looked at him. "Is that heaven?"

He furrowed his brows at that. "Is that how you call it?" he shook his head and continued, "The name is meaningless. You will go to the place where all spirits go after death and become just another nameless soul wandering for eternity."

"And if I dive in your three Michelin star soup, what happens?"

His head went backward, and a bellowing laugh ran out of him before he looked back at me with a fond smile, "You certainly have an interesting way of talking."

"You didn't answer the question," I said while I crossed my arms.

"You know the answer already. Don't you, my dear?"

I sighed loudly and wiped the sweat out of my bald head, the blue bubbles in the tub were taunting me, his most likely very, very fake smile was way too convincing, and the offer was irresistible.

"At least…" I said, "at least tell me your name." I asked of him.

"You won't remember it when you wake up," he stated, and I shrugged.

"I don't care."

"I am the Almighty, the father of your new blood and god of your new people… I am Yhwach."

I stood on my own feet; he had to hold me by the waist again to stop me from falling down and into the tub unceremoniously, which was kind of ironic since then I took one step closer, and then another and then my knees were in contact with the rock.

I turned to look at him, and he still had that grandfatherly smile plastered all over his face. I returned my eyes to the tub, and without a moment more of hesitation, I kneeled on it and plunged my foot inside.

The bottom I was expecting to reach was not there; I went to yelp in surprise, but the tub sucked me in like a vacuum cleaner.

The last I saw was the eye in the sky staring back at me.

* * *

**Well, that's the end of Episode 1, onto the next one! I decided to post this story with two chapters in one go since the first one is more of a prologue than anything. **

**Please leave a review if you enjoyed it or found any glaring errors, English is not my first language but is the one I enjoy writing the most, so there are bound to be some mistakes here and there.**


	2. S1: Hello World

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence. **

**Hi there! Here is the second chapter, I decided to post both chapters together to showcase a little more than just a prologue. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. **

**And as always, I do not own Bleach.**

* * *

**Season 1: Welcome Home**

**Episode 2: Hello World**

**Unknown – Unknown – Unknown**

I always wondered what I was, what piece or part of the whole that made me as a person was the one that well, defined me as…. Me.

One moment I was dying with my lungs collapsing and my head cracking, and the next, I found myself swimming in nothingness, an endless emptiness that was very small and tight even though I couldn't confirm how I knew this.

All I knew was the cocoon of flesh surrounding us like the cells of a jail and the pressure that laid beside me. I didn't know what the weight next to me meant, but I have found that overthinking is perhaps one of my best skills.

I don't know when I realized I wasn't alone in this nothingness; I couldn't gauge the passing of time inside there. One moment there was nothing, then suddenly something against me as if I had been pushed into a locker room filled with crap.

That was the first time I "felt" anything since I regained consciousness, and slowly I was able to sense a little bit more and more of my existence and my body. I felt the pressure slowly built up as if both me and the thing were growing or as if the fleshy container that had us entrapped became smaller.

It was suffocating, almost like being the clock inside a time bomb, just waiting to blow up in any second, my body felt constricted to its limits, and there was no place to escape inside this dark cage.

My body barely functioned with how restricted I was against the walls, it took a monumental effort to move a limb, but I kept at it, kicking once or twice to make a point that I could do it.

My plant went into action, and I pushed my left leg against the flesh, one kick, two kicks, three kicks.

I was on a roll.

Something knocked back, I got scared and stopped, waiting.

The outside something pressed itself against our shell, it squished me a little, and I was about to start panicking before it retreated, and I could have sworn I heard something.

A very distant and muffled voice, I couldn't make head or tails of what it said, I couldn't even tell a thing about who spoke, but it was there. It had a certain rhythm like a song; it created vibrations that soothed me more than I wanted to acknowledge.

The lullaby continued, I stopped fighting against it and fell into a dreamless sleep before I noticed,

Sadly, it didn't last long.

Suddenly I was jerked to one side then a long gash tore thought the top of the cocoon and a gush of liquid escaped its confines before my head plugged the hole, I was stuck in that tear while the rest of the cage was punched around by what felt like a dozen drugged chimpanzees. I felt the thing next to me tug me, and I tried to fight back to no avail.

The hole contracted, hurting my head, I was confused and scared and couldn't move myself out, I took hold of the thing next to me, and in panic, I pushed at it with everything I had.

That wasn't a good idea as my head went forward into the hole and the pressure against it increased tenfold, I trembled like an ignited firework, and the pushing and punching from the outside weren't helping.

Pain flared all around me, something squished from outside the walls, and I was finally forced out through the tiny hole, into a fleshy canal and then finally out.

My head was the first to come out, and I got assaulted by a blinding light stabbing my vision; I closed my eyes, but my eyelids did nothing to protect them from the scorching brightness.

Something softly grasped my head from behind and supported me while my body finished coming off the flesh pipe, I was too lost to understand what was going on.

There was a quick drop, and my legs left the hole and got caught by the thing holding me. A freezing wind surrounded me; the air felt like living icicles peaking at my soft skin. The feeling in my body came back with a biting cold; my legs and arm finally responded to my commands with jerky and uncontrollable moves, and my chubby fingers wouldn't coordinate.

I opened my eyes to see dark giants looming below the incandescent lights, and one of those giants was holding me on its hands.

I didn't scream; my mind was too overwhelmed, and I forgot how to, I was paralyzed in terror and felt my lungs malfunction as they went into a panic attack and forgot how to work. Fear and horror worked its way in my veins as they turned the switches off every system inside me that their claws could get a hold onto.

Spikes of pain and cold attacked me, while my breathing became ragged and erratic; the giants screamed and howled to each other as the one holding me ran faster than a cartoon with its ass on fire while the rest followed it behind. Their voices came way to clear into my tiny ears, but they did not speak in English, the language they spoke felt somehow familiar as if I had heard it before at least enough times to recognize it, but its name escaped from my panicked brain cells.

As the giant ran, my vision became clear, bit by bit, everything was still slightly blurry, but I recognized the giant's clothing: a white doctor's coat, and a blue surgical mask over an indistinct man's face.

What?

I didn't get it; I had somehow survived my stupid plan?

I was sure I had died, I remember the end crystal clear and I was confident that was proof enough of my demise, but now I was carried around by a doctor?

That's when it hit me.

I was seventeen years old; yes, I was a short, sickly girl with not much muscle to weight me down, but I was still big enough that no actual man would have been able to carry me like this. This one was a giant; he held me with only the palms of his hands like if I was an injured little bird.

He rushed through corridors while the doctor yelled something to whoever could hear him, a group of five of his colleagues ran with us up to a room with large double doors which my carrier charged through with his shoulder with no consideration of anyone who could have been standing behind.

I got distracted out of our mad rush when a gulp of air got painfully stuck in my throat, I opened my mouth and did my best to spit it out, but only a squeaky noise came out, one of the women beside us held my carrier by the shoulder and pointed at me.

He looked at me and then pushed me against his chest, I felt his hand tap my back multiple times before my throat finally snapped open and I coughed the air inside of it, and I took advantage of it to finally scream for help.

I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I wanted out of this nightmare already.

The sound that came out of my mouth scared me back into silence, that wasn't my voice, I remember it clearly, it was like mud and dust, what had come out was anything but that. It sounded almost like… like, I don't know, a baby?

Everything kept moving on without my consent, one second I was there, the next I was inside a crystal box, with another dammed breathing mask up to my mouth, thankfully someone had also decided to bury me under a dry, comfy sheet that alleviated the painful cold.

I saw the blurry doctor loom over me before he closed the lid of the crystal box; my panic slowly died as the mask pumped air into me and reminded my lungs how to work correctly. I grew tired, and fear died away with logic.

I got one last cry before I succumbed.

Things became way less hectic after waking up, with no pain and no chaos dragging me around. I had time to realize that I had not been wrong before about my voice, not being my voice.

My body wasn't mine either, or at least, not my sickly old one.

There was a window just beside my incubator, and that helped me to keep track of time anew. My vision was too blurry to look for any details, but it was easy to see the passing of the sun. I was there for six more days, at least they had taken out the breathing mask by the time I woke up for the second time.

Nurses fed me with a bottle and replaced my clothes and diapers every couple of hours. It would make me sleepy every time after I finished feeding, but although I spent almost all my time napping, I had enough waking moments to think about my current situation.

I moved my arms, they were short and had minimal range of movements, my legs were no better, my fingers wouldn't do much of what I wanted and my spoken vocabulary had been reduced to just 'wah' and 'weh' with the occasional banshee scream when I got frustrated with all of this.

I couldn't believe it in the beginning, but by the fourth day, I was quite sure of what was going on.

I had been reborn.

I was a baby once again, with all the very lackluster benefits and the myriad of negatives that comes with it, sadly this knowledge didn't help me at all to understand what was going on but increased my questions to up to a thousand more.

Where was I? was the one I decided to focus first. I had also wanted to know where my new parents were since babies don't just grow on trees but is not like I could answer that question on my own, and even if I could, I was terrified of finding out I may have another pair of parents that had abandoned me in a hospital.

At least my old ones had waited ten years before giving up on me; these couldn't wait a week to get rid of me?

So no, I wasn't going there. Instead, I decided to use what little I had of head movement to take as much of my surroundings. Hopefully, I could get some hint of where in the world I had been reborn.

I was sure this wasn't California or anywhere in the states, the language the doctors and nurses spoke exclusively felt a bit familiar, as if I had heard it once or twice, but it was still unknown to me.

The walls around me were white with nothing special on them, other than the motif of blue crosses here and there. I didn't think I would be able to find out anything until I got out of here somehow.

I decided to pay attention to something else.

If I could concentrate.

There was little I could do to pass the time; I didn't even have enough control of my limbs to move freely, but in my boredom, I had found out I could raise my legs a little and then push against my comforter which would drive me a little upwards. I repeated the process over and over until I hit the incubation tub's wall with my head.

Not a minute later, a nurse would come running in the room and push me back to the bottom; they probably had a camera in there to monitor me. I used my time to think while I kept playing.

This new body of mine was very different from the old one, filled with mysteries and the uncomfortable realities of babyhood, including the attention span of a goldfish, but…

I couldn't remember the last time in my prior life that my body hasn't ached just by existing. Now the worse nuisance I was having was waiting for the nurse to come and pull me down already so I could keep playing!

The doors opened, and I greeted the newcomer with a loud, "wah!"

A man in a doctor's coat peered down to me; my vision had improved enough in the last couple of days that I could take on the appearance of this doctor.

It was hard to figure out how old he could have been, he was undoubtedly an adult, but his face lacked the age of an older man even though his hair was white as freshly fallen snow, he had a pair of severe and narrow looking blue eyes hidden behind frameless glasses.

It was the first time I saw this particular doctor come in, and I couldn't decipher anything of what he could have been thinking behind those stone-cold eyes. He leaned his head to the side like a confused puppy when I got quiet and kept staring at him; he must have taken my sudden silence as just another baby thing because he shrugged not long after and picked me up with care. He put me on the changing table, and I had to suffer again through the embarrassment of getting undressed and getting my diapers changed even though the ones I currently had were clean. Then he instead of putting me back into my white hospital onesie I had been using, he took a yellow cream colored one out of his coat's pocket and put me on that one.

The new onesie was unique; not only was it a cute cream-yellow color, but it also had a big strawberry emblazoned in the belly with a happy smile on it.

This doctor suffered from an acute case of the death-serious face, but if this was the kind of onesies he liked, then my opinion on him was only going to keep improving.

He took me up again and said something to me. I didn't understand him, but I decided to give him a happy, "wah." As a thank you for the new clothes. He seemed to know somehow because he nodded and then carried me out of the incubators' room. He held me with my head above his shoulder; I couldn't see where we were going, but I could watch what we left behind, and I marveled over the normalcy of what my eyes captured.

Every dozen steps, the white walls were marked with a blue cross that smoothly integrated with the walls, and made me feel warm and fuzzy like an old friend even though they were located in a hospital, the other side of the corridor had windows that showed the pale walls of some buildings nearby but mostly the tiles and roofs of smaller ones. Blue and tan tiles ruled the rooftops while grayish colored walls accompanied tall trees here and there that gave life to the otherwise monotone view.

A figure caught my attention on a nearby rooftop; the man stood lazily with a cigarette on his mouth, he was wearing weird clothes that looked like a black kimono, I watched him in confusion for an instant before I blinked and he was gone.

I gave a confused "wah," but seeing as the doctor didn't stop, I just decided to save that weird bit of info for later on. I had much more to worry about now that the impossible had become a reality.

I had been reincarnated.

So much had happened already, all my life I had been given only the losing cards, maybe this was just the same, my shitty luck having another joke at my expense but I couldn't, I wouldn't believe it was that.

No, I almost felt like an older man's grave voice whispered in the back of my ear.

Another chance, another chance. Not in your world but in mine.

I don't know how other people would handle this situation, nor did I truly cared, here was the chanced I had begged for all my previous life.

I Just hoped four-eyes was not walking me to the nearest trash bin or something.

We went around a corner, then through another corridor and a flight of stairs, we passed other doctors and nurses that waved and smiled tenderly at me. There were also regular people here and there that mostly grinned when they notice us going by.

An older woman tried to give me a round red candy; I was utterly disappointed when four-eyes doctor saw it, and power walked away, we reached a broad set of glass doors and then we went into the hospital's lobby.

The lobby wasn't as filled as I could have thought with the numerous people that had been walking around the guts of the building, a couple of nurses were operating the front, and I saw some families sitting here and there in the garden of waiting chairs that bifurcated the inner and outer sides of the room.

The doctor stopped there, and I felt as his free hand went up and waved at someone; he then moved me in his arms so that I was facing ahead of him. A couple that had been standing near the entrance of the hospitals' proper came towards us.

The woman had the fair skin of a porcelain doll, with a heartshaped face and brown eyes that hid no emotions under long and wavy bangs of thin brown hair that fell freely behind her shoulders. She wasn't particularly short but was still one head shorter compared to the man that had a tight grasp on her shoulders with a trembling hand.

While the woman had a hopeful smile and only a few tears glistening on her eyes, the tall and muscular man beside her was bawling his eyes out, he had spiky black hair and I saw a pair of brown eyes under the streams of water that fell down his face and into the strands of his lightly shaven beard.

They came to us and stood there in silence while the doctor held me on his grip, it could have been a second, or a minute or a year, time felt so useless a measure right now as I peered into the couple's awkward faces that didn't seem to know what sort of reaction they should muster while I stared at them.

I was fascinated.

The woman's eyes shone lightly with water, and she held a sob as her hands caressed the air between us as if she was afraid of taking me in case I broke. I then noticed the man was holding a bundle of cloth with his free hand tightly and protectively against his chest, but I forgot about that almost instantly as my eyes traveled to his.

I saw a cocktail of emotions spill from them, fire and passion as he leaned closer to the woman; pride and joy as he watched me; nerves and questions as his lips opened over and over, yet no words ran out of them, and only a shaky grin was left behind.

It was hard to remember to keep breathing.

Were they? Were they my parents? Had I not been abandoned for real?

No, this young and awkward couple that was looking at me like they had just found out a secret gift hidden at the back of the Christmas tree couldn't be my parents.

No, no, I knew my luck; I was already given too much with a somewhat healthy even if quirky new body. I remember my prior set, parents of five children with me the last one, they had been already professionals at their task when they had me, and they had previously known from the start that I was a lost cause. They kept me alive and paid the fees more out of moral obligation than anything.

These two instead just seemed as nervous and lost as any new parents. But that wasn't what got me the chills.

It was their grins.

Nobody had shown me a smile like that before. Filled with hope and opportunity, I had only known those of pity. And… and…

And I wanted more.

I flapped my chubby arms at them, and the woman sobbed. She waved her left hand at me, and I responded with a "wah!" that made both of them flinch and start to laugh.

The doctor said something to her; she responded. She looked at me and then at the bundle on her man's arms before she took that one last step towards us, the doctor offered me to her, and she grabbed me with trembling hands, I tried not to move at all as not to scare her away. I wanted, no, needed to make a good impression now.

She and the man crowded around me, and before I knew it, I was being wrapped in another bundle of cloth that protected me from the slightly chilly weather around us. Then she pressed my head against her chest, and the quick beating of her nervous heart felt like a soothing lullaby in my ear.

A cold drop of water hit me right on my nose as she dropped her head closer to me; she was crying now with the brightest grin I had ever seen. I couldn't contain my feelings anymore, the dam broke, and I cried. I screamed hard and loud.

The doctor jumped.

The man was lost about what to do and walked in circles around us.

The beautiful woman was outright panicking while holding me.

They tried to calm me down, but I couldn't; even when I heard the cries of another infant come to share on my distress; I kept on going

I wasn't hungry.

Or scared…

I was happy.

* * *

**Unknown – Uknown – Home?**

There was… a thing? Yes, there was a thing quietly snoring next to me.

I didn't know what else to call 'it' but a thing.

I have had siblings in my prior life, their faces almost melted into just one blob in my memories with just how much I had seen of them, they had never come to visit me in the hospital, I don't know if it was because they didn't want to or because my previous set of parents just didn't let them.

But now?

Now I had…this thing.

We had been staying in the same crib together for the last three months since our parents got us into our new comfy home. Well, the little I saw of the house didn't make it look like it was new, but it was at least new to me.

But rather than try and understand my surroundings, I was still trying to come up with a final decision about what I should do or even think about the thing next to me. He was a tiny little thing, his face filled with baby fat and his head topped with a ball of bright orange hair, and a bit of saliva was dripping down his open mouth and way too near my shoulder for my comfort.

I tried to wiggle away from the thing, but just as if he had felt it, he went and grabbed onto my onesie with his chubby hand and impeded my movement.

I wanted to cry.

But I didn't, not for any ridiculous reason like not wanting to bother the thing, but because I knew if I woke him up with my wailings then he would join too, and then our parents would panic and our new father would join us on the wailing and our new mother would look like she was about to have a heart attack.

Our family dynamics certainly needed some work.

The thing sighed with content, and I sighed with frustration as he did, I did my best to ignore the wet and cold feeling of his saliva wetting my clothes while I paid attention to whatever ruckus had begun downstairs.

It was hard to understand how my parents' relationship worked since I didn't know the language yet, I was starting to have some mild suspicions about what it was, but that was it. They shouted at each other as much as they laughed together, dad would carry mom on his shoulder quite often, and she would kick his ass against a wall twice a day before picking him up from the floor and kissing him.

They were energetic and never stayed still, even when they picked me or the thing next to me. We would go out of the house as a family once a day in the morning for a stroll, and they would keep us in the crib downstairs in the kitchen while they stormed around the house from one side to the other.

I enjoyed watching them, but the most joyous moments of my new existence was when dad would take me on one of his arms and mom would peer at me and tickle me a little, that he also held the thing on his other arm was something I made a point to ignore.

But I couldn't ignore the thing forever, even if I wanted too.

I felt his face move closer; the thing pushed himself until his face was just next to mine, and I felt a vein bulge on my forehead in exasperation.

That was when my savior came to the rescue, and I heard mom walk into our room, calling out with a singsonged, "Ichika-chan! Ichigo-kun!"

I responded with an excited "wah!" but the thing remained quiet. Mom peered into our crib and took me out first before she went and took the thing with her free hand and went out with us. She walked downstairs and into the kitchen, where mom quickly deposited me on dad's arms and went away with the still sleeping thing.

Dad stared at me like I held the answers to all the questions of the universe and hummed to himself as if he was trying to decipher them all. I enjoyed it when he did that; I didn't know if he understood me and my need to escape boredom, but I held his stare and fought in our little father-daughter staring contest. I struggled until I felt a wisp of air tickled my nose, and suddenly I sneezed.

Dad's expression transformed in a breath, his smile went a little bit too large, showing all his teeth while the corners of his lips trembled like they were not accustomed to staying in that position. He lifted me in the air and laughed while he jumped in circles around the kitchen to make me laugh.

And laugh I did, feeling safer on his giant hands than I had ever been, feeling warm and fuzzy as mom joined us and together my parents squashed me between their chests, letting me hear the beating of their hearts in a song only meant for two to enjoy.

The thing was next to me, one of his little chubby hands holding onto a couple of strands of mom's hair while the other quickly grasped for my clothes. He giggled like he didn't know how to, almost coughing between each laugh of his toothless grin.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Perhaps I could learn to like this thing just as I have found my love for my new parents.

My brother… I didn't know what I felt for him yet, but I would try, for the sake of my new beginnings, I would try to like him because even though he was a baby through and through, without the baggage and the age that I had. It didn't matter.

Because I was a baby again, and he was my brother.

* * *

**Unknown – Unknown – Home**

The days went by peacefully. I sat on my tiny table chair while I watched mom's hair swaying behind her as she washed dishes. It was so beautiful.

It was the colors of acorns, and it shone with the specks of light that came from the window that made the strands appear as if they had been knitted with threads of gold. I hoped I had the same beautiful color as mom had, but I wouldn't have minded either if instead, I had the dark raven hair of dad.

I was probably a total failure in the reincarnated community by this point now that I thought about it. Three months into my new life and I still had no idea what my name was, or even how I looked like. I promised myself I would pay attention and check myself in one of the mirrors of the bathroom every time one of my parents carried me around but instead I ended up being distracted by the feeling of dad's coarse shave tickling my head or mom's hummed song guiding me back to sleep.

"Ichika-chan, wa shiawase ni mieru," dad said as he came around my chair and poked my cheek with a finger. Mother giggled at that.

"Kanojo o kinishinaide," she said, I didn't know what they were talking, but dad kept on pocking me.

"Oy, Ichika-chan," he said again before he chuckled and walked away to go annoy my little brother, who was in the kitchen's crib.

Ichika-chan, Ichika-chan.

They said that a lot when speaking to me.

Mom finished washing the dishes and came to pick me up in her beautiful embrace; I felt giddy as she held me and whispered those words over and over again in my ear, "Ichika-chan, Ichika-chan…"

I guessed that it was my name, Ichika-chan. Wait no, it finally clicked in me, and I remembered that in Japanese, chan was used like a something you added after the name for… some reasons I couldn't remember now, but it wasn't part of the name.

It was a small triumph to have finally cracked the code of what language my parents spoke, but I was onto a more important discovery now.

Ichika.

Ichika.

I guessed then that I was Ichika. I liked it; at least I had a name to call myself in my own's thoughts.

Mom began to hum, and my baby body decided that was my cue to go on a forced nap. I went to sleep with one last thought.

Hoping Ichika was my name and not the word for poop.

* * *

**Well, I hope you like Ichika. **

**I beg you for mercy if the Japanese in this chapter is bad, Google translate did its best! I also won't post any English translations of it here since the point of it is that Ichika has no idea how to speak Japanese nor understands it; don't worry, I promise this is the only time this will happen.**

**One thing that I want to point out now that the chapter is done is that our protagonist does not have any knowledge of Bleach, I know this is quite weird for SIOC protagonists, but that is why I choose to go this route. **

**Most SIOC know what is going to happen, this can make for a fun story, but it has been done way too often. **

**I wrote this with the idea that Ichika came from a parallel universe from bleach rather than coming from the real world into the manga. **

**One other aspect that is going to remain very important in the story is that she reincarnated into this new world, most SIOC stories I have read, only use the reincarnation as a method to drop the new character into the story and then forget about it as if it wasn't an incredible event, to begin with. **

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter; the next one will come in exactly one week.**

**Also, I would like to get to know the people that decide to take a little bit of their time of the day to read my work, I am very thankful that you have decided to take a chance with it and gave it a read so I will put here a fun question for you to answer together with your review, I will put my answer at the end of the next chapter and make a new question. **

**If you enjoyed the story so far (or not,) please leave a review! I would love to know what you think about it so far. **

**Question of the week: Which of the Bleach Anime openings was your favorite? **


	3. S1: Of Blue Lights

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence. **

**Hello everyone, here is the third chapter! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**And as always, I do not own Bleach.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Season 1: Welcome Home**

**Episode 3: Of Blue Lights**

**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

Kurosaki Ichika.

I had a name.

Ichika, Ichika Kurosaki.

Three-year-old, eldest daughter of the Kurosaki family, big sister extraordinaire, and now I would put another title to my name.

Ghostbuster.

"I said: out!" I again bashed the floating perverted old man with a broomstick, making a point to ignore that my weapon didn't do more than smash against the ceiling of my room without causing any damage to my target.

"I just wanted to tell another story!" the ghost pathetically wailed as he began to retreat into the wall behind him.

I felt like steam could be fuming out of my ears with how exasperated I was at that moment. That bloody pervert, in particular, had been harassing my little brother and me for the past couple of days, the ghost kept saying he only wanted to tell his stories, but I wasn't a blind idiot that couldn't see how the middle-aged spirit with dark hair, glasses, a business looking outfit and a noose around his neck seemed to have a certain glint in his eyes when he came near us. He was banned from our room permanently.

I just needed to figure out a way to enforce that ban.

"Nee-chan, is he gone?" asked the bulge inside the blue bedsheets of the left bed.

I took a cursory look around our room. Our room was tiny and cramped, but I liked it. The door was on the right inside a small corridor that connected with the main hall of the second floor of the house; our shared closet was to the left of the door. On the other wall was a window in the middle, and our two beds were propped at either side of it, and there was another window above the left bed.

It was small and comfy, I would have liked to at least have a desk but is not like it would fit anywhere in the room, or like a three-year-old me would have had much use for it anyway.

With no more signs of any ghosts in the room, I nodded to myself and said, "all clear," then I had to watch my little twin brother pop out from under the sheets of his bed, making a sound as if he was breathing again like if he had been underwater.

I giggled at his antics and ran to the edge of his bed with a smile. "Welcome back, otouto." I got up on his bed and ruffled his hair much to his annoyance before I took the book on healthy eating from under his pillow and sat in the bed with my back against the wall.

My little brother shuffled in the bed until he was sitting next to me. "What are you reading?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Adult stuff."

"hum," he nodded and hummed as if he understood entirely, and I couldn't contain another chuckle from going out of my lips.

I had once been very apprehensive at the idea of having a little brother, especially a little twin brother. I wanted to enjoy this new life to the fullest, but I feared that having to take care of him would take away from it.

So far, it had been pleasant.

Ichigo was the perfect brother; he was a portable sized ray of sunshine that followed me around everywhere I went in the house like a lost puppy. He laughed and giggled at every single one of my jokes – although he probably did not understand most of them – He was curious and asked tons and tons of questions, and every time I answered, he looked at me like I was the brightest person to have ever lived.

But moments like this were the ones that made me appreciate him the most, when he was quiet and snuggled next to me, his presence reminding me that I wasn't alone anymore. It wouldn't matter what happened or what I did; I would always have him at my side.

I flipped to another page, but before I even began to read the first sentence, I heard someone knock on the door, and mom came into our room a moment later.

"Is time for your breakfast, Ichika-chan, Ichigo-kun… oh, aw, you two look so cute right now! What are you two reading over there?" she asked as she came and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Ault stuff," Ichigo responded immediately while I held the book up and showed mom the cover, my Japanese had improved over the years enough that I could read seemingly without a problem, but my tongue still struggled with most of the pronunciations because I kept trying to speak English unconsciously, only Ichigo seemed to understand me most of the time.

Mom's left eyebrow rose in confusion at the book, but she didn't comment on it. Instead, she took it out of my hands and placed it in the bed before she took one of my hands and one of Ichigo's and pulled us out of bed.

She guided us out and into the second floor's hallway. She was leaning down so we could reach her hands; mom never liked to carry both of us.

As we went beside my parent's room, I made sure to smile brightly to the full-sized mirror that was just beyond the open door.

Ichigo and I were twins, but we weren't identical twins; instead, we were what was called fraternal twins. He was a boy; I was a girl. He had mom's orange hair cut short and spiky, and I had dad's black hair growing down to my shoulders. About the only things we shared were our similar baby physiques and our brown eyes.

I grabbed a fistful of my hair with my free hand and gave it a proud tug as my grin grew wider.

It felt nice to have hair.

"Do you want to get a haircut, Ichika-chan?" Mom asked, "Mm, maybe I should get you both an early date with Yasamura-san," she said, and I quickly looked at her with disgust written in my eyes.

I pulled my hand out of her grasp, making her gasp as I covered my head as best as I could with my arms and shouted, "No!" to the top of my lungs and ran downstairs.

I found dad passing by at the end of the stairs, unaware of what was happening as he went to the living room. I took advantage of that and jumped halfway through the steps right into him.

"Woah!" he opened his arms to catch me, "oh, oh!" he wailed as he leaped backward in one foot, trying to keep his balance with me in tow. I heard mom shout my name from upstairs, but all that did was made me burrow further into dad.

"What's wrong, my cute daughter!?" dad asked, but I didn't respond with anything more than a grumble.

Mom's footsteps got closer and closer until her voice came from right next to us. "Is my fault. I forgot she hates when I mention anything about cutting her hair."

Dad's laugh rumbled up his chest, and into my ear. "I understand you, my adorable daughter! There is nothing scarier than a barber! They are terrible monsters," he said.

"Don't scare her more!" mom said and bashed him softly in the head. "last time, she almost bit Yasamura-san's hand."

"Okaa-chan?" Ichigo asked mom from where he stood next to her.

"Yes, darling?"

"Who's Chasamura?" Ichigo asked.

Both of our parents chuckled, and I decided to finally take my head out of the protection of my arms and dad's chest now that their attention wasn't on me.

"Is Yasamura, Ichigo, and she is your and your Nee-chan's hairdresser. Do you want to get a haircut Ichigo?" mom asked and Ichigo looked at her for a moment before his eyes went towards me, I tried to shake my head in denial as subtly as possible, but I knew I failed when I heard dad's laughter.

Ichigo's eyes went back to mom. "Nop."

She sighed.

We reached the kitchen and sat to eat as a family with only a few more bumps here and there in the road; we weren't a sophisticated family or one with a lot of etiquettes to speak off. We were rowdy, lively, and everything that I loved.

Ichigo and I sat in one side of the little wooden table, our father, Kurosaki Isshin was at the front of the table with a plate of eggs and coffee while our mother, Kurosaki Masaki was already starting to wash off dishes.

Us twins sat with our respective plates of cereal, Ichigo had a sugary and chocolate one while mine was a healthy low carb, my parents had first tried to get me to eat the same one as Ichigo, but I wasn't about to start going into bad habits this early into my second life.

Sugars and ghost could both go the hell.

The businessman's ghost was floating near the kitchen; he seemed to be silently judging mom's skill at washing the dishes, and I couldn't hold a sigh as I felt the need to throw my spoon at the ghost.

I hated ghosts.

I know most people would freak out about seeing one in the first place, but I wasn't surprised about their existence, although I had never been a religious girl, being reincarnated was an excellent way to start believing that everything wasn't as simple as it seemed. I thought that maybe because I had died once that probably gave me the ability to see ghosts now.

Maybe I should be thankful for this new power, but I wasn't. Especially when I still felt the weight of guilt pushing down on my guts because Ichigo could also see ghosts, and that was probably entirely my fault.

Most ghosts just floated around doing nothing. When we walked around town as a family, I saw many of them, and nobody would bat an eye, the spirits would remain idle in the air without bothering anyone.

That is if you did not notice them.

I had found that when ghosts figured out that Ichigo or I could see them, they would zero on us and annoy us. They would chase us with questions that we would never have the answers for, or they would want to talk to us about the good ol' days. I had learned rather quickly to act like I didn't see them, but Ichigo didn't have the extra years of mental maturity to differentiate between the living and the dead.

Most of the time, he didn't even notice the ghosts were well, spirits until I pointed it out. So yes, I had to maintain a twenty-four-seven vigil to protect my otouto from ghost stalkers sometimes. It was hard work, but it paid off.

"…Give it one or two more months I will have it all done." Dad was talking with mom when I tuned out of my thoughts.

I looked at him curiously as I spooned another mouthful of soft cereal with milk, but he didn't notice me.

"That sounds great, darling. Your dream is finally coming true."

Dad gave her a cheeky smile and emptied what was left inside his coffee cup, then he said, "Well, I'm going to take the stuff out of the boxes." He stood, leaned beside me, and kissed the top of my hair, and then patted Ichigo's head before he went through the white door on the left of the living room.

Although our house was relatively small for one of two floors, the building itself wasn't small. It was all because of dad's dream of opening his own little clinic. Our house was compromised of the first and second floor of the left-wing of the building while dad had been working hard into remodeling the right side. I had only seen it once a couple of months ago when dad gave us twins a tour; I had not known yet that he planned to open a clinic and instead thought he was going to build a retail shop there. He started the trip by pointing at every place here and there where he planned to put something and when we got to one of the empty rooms, and he said that he planned to put a breathing machine, that was when I realized the truth.

He had decided never to force me back in there after I cried hard enough to hurt my throat, I knew in the back of my head that I should be mature enough to not act like that over something so simple, but I didn't care, just the idea of having a clinic connected to my house made the little hairs on my skin bristle and the blood in my veins become like jelly. I was better now, but I don't think I would ever be able to put one step in that place willingly.

Or so I thought.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

The wind made the "Grand Inauguration" banner above the clinic's doors flap softly against the wall, the clouds hid away the light and taunted the mud down below with another gush of rain, but there hasn't been a single drop of it since the early morning.

The doors of the clinic remained closed.

Inside, the lights were on, a melody came out of the tiny radio on top of the empty front desk, there should have been a cake in the table next to it that would have been given freely to people coming in, but the cake was abandoned in the fridge at the private side of the house.

The doors to the clinic's two rooms were wide open, the beds made, the utensils clean and ready.

Nobody was there.

I cringed when another bout of coughing burst out of my room. I sat quietly in the corridor with my back against the wall, and my hand was hovering on the line between the door and the wooden floor.

Ichigo was in there; I wasn't allowed inside. Mom had tried to get me downstairs more than once to watch tv or sit quietly on the sofa, but although I didn't have it in me to fight when she pulled me in her arms, I would always walk back up again on my tiny little legs.

It was a cold and nothing more, they said.

It would be gone in a couple of days, they said.

You shouldn't get close, or you will get it too, they said.

And all that time my little brother stayed in bed.

Alone.

"Ichika-chan?" dad sat next to me with a groan, I poked one eye out from behind my knees to look at him, expecting a silly smile or a joke that would be wasted with my current mood but instead his face was dull and calm. "Are you worried?" he asked.

I nodded against my legs, and he nodded back at me in understanding.

"You are way too bright for your age, my little girl, at your age I cared more about what kind of bugs I could find in the backyard than I did about what my little siblings did."

"Siblings?" I asked.

He nodded. "That's right, your papa comes from a big family you could say, I had three younger siblings although they all caused me more headaches than anything." he chuckled and placed his hand over my head before he continued, "my younger brother, his name was Kaien, and he was a troublemaker when he was a kid, quite ironic that he ended up becoming an uh, we could say a professional secretary, and oh the stories I could tell you of Kukaku, my little sister was a daredevil, Ganju-kun, the youngest, was adorable but had a certain ability to get in all kind of troubles." Dad laughed some more and faced the ceiling as if the memories were broadcasted on its woods.

"I wish I had cared more for them," dad said, his joyful tone drowning in a sorrowful sigh at he said it. "I made many mistakes… but that is in the past." He shook himself out of the depressive mood and grinned at me. "You are a good sister, Ichika. But you also must think of how would my little Ichigo think if he knew you were here sitting outside the room alone, waiting. Do you want to go downstairs and eat some ice cream with me?"

I smirked as I said, "Ice cream is unhealthy."

Dad's expression changed to one of horror. "there is nothing healthier than a bowl of ice cream in the afternoon! And I know that 'cuz I am a doctor!" he pointed at himself proudly with both of his thumbs, and I couldn't contain the laughter in my belly.

"You bad doctor," I said, and he became even more horrified at that comment. Large fake tears fell from his eyes as he leaned closer to me.

"My little Ichika-chan is a meanie!" he wailed quietly enough not to disturb my little brother but more than loudly to get me to giggle. From one instant to another, his tears disappeared, and a satisfied grin came to lie on his mouth, he chuckled and ruffled my hair. "I will give you ten more minutes here, okay? Then I will take you down with your beautiful mother so you can eat some ice cream, consider it both papa's and doctor's orders."

I shook my head in denial, I wasn't hungry and especially not for such a fatty kind of food…even if it was sort of delicious, I didn't want to leave Ichigo alone, he was too little and innocent for him to have to go through that.

"No arguing, young lady." He poked me in the nose with his finger, I was going to argue, but he spoke first, "I will stay with him while you eat your ice cream, okay?"

I still wanted to argue, but the way he looked at me made it clear the discussion was over; I nodded with my eyebrows furrowed in a fit of frustration, but that only made him sigh and then chuckle as he stood up and went downstairs.

I waited there, clasping my arms around my knees until I heard the fridge closing and the tv downstairs being turned on before I decided to stand. I glared at the rails of the stairs and gulped air to hopefully clear out the wrenching feeling of impotence I had dancing on my lungs. It didn't help.

I went into our shared room; my bed was perfect and tidy, my bedsheets were filled with pictures of cartoon animals, but they were hidden behind my collection of stuffed 'zombie' animals, most of them had suffered 'accidents' at the hands of my otouto that had left them missing bits and pieces, but I still loved them.

On the other side, Ichigo's bedsheets slowly rose up and down as their owner breathed. There was an odd whistle coming out every time they went down that choked the veins around my heart tightly until it hurt.

I went up to his bed, tiptoeing my way closer. Only his head poked out of the bedsheets, an expression of discomfort and even perhaps pain held onto his face as he slept with a wet cloth over his forehead.

I clenched my hands, my nails stabbing my skin and leaving burning red marks. I couldn't help him; I couldn't take away his sickness. When I had gotten a little brother, I thought of him as a fun project, something to keep me entertained in this new life, but I never expected to care.

I was terrified.

Guilt and worry, fear and love, all of them became cold knives that slit my insides into ribbons of fire that slowly melted away whatever flesh I had left. My only salvation was ironically the knowledge of knowing I couldn't do anything in this situation.

How do you act when you realize you have come to love someone enough that they become more important in your heart that yourself?

How do you deal with the incessant worry that their wellbeing generates inside your head like a morning clock that never ends ringing?

How do you survive the constant fear that someday there will be a point where you will have to choose between them and yourself? And the knowledge and confidence that you wouldn't be the answer you would prefer.

And how can you still smile at them when the guilt generated from having those questions anchors your lips downwards with the very weight of the world?

He was such a tiny little thing, so fragile and inconsequential, yet somehow it didn't feel like that at all.

Ichigo scared me, the feelings he created in me terrified me, but what worried me more is that I couldn't look away, I wouldn't look away.

I loved him.

Another bout of coughing took over him, and he spat air from his lungs as if he was dying. Each cough threw another rock at my guts, and I flew closer to Ichigo and grasped one of his hands with mines from over the bedsheets.

The sting of a tear harassed my left eye, and I shook my head to get rid of it. I had to be strong for Ichigo. He needed me; I didn't care what logic said or dad or mom.

He needed me, I was his big sister, and I had to do something.

The whistle in his breathing intensified until he coughed again, I closed my eyes and concentrated in the warm in his hand. The sheets were in the way.

I dislodged my hands from Ichigo's only for the instant that it took me to get my arms inside the sheets and grasp his hand again, I felt the clammy sweat of his hand freeze the heat of my warmer one, but I ignored how uncomfortable it felt.

I couldn't do anything.

I knew that.

I didn't care.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

Ten minutes had gone by, Isshin had given his eldest daughter five extra ones after that, and when the clock in the microwave touched seven forty, he nodded to himself and went upstairs. He took every step slowly and silently, worried about bothering either of his children upstairs.

When he had come into fatherhood, he had done it blindly; he had never planned to be a father, and the way it had come to be had probably being the one farthest from his imagination.

He wouldn't have had it any other way, his children were mere babies, but he was already proud of them. Ichika-chan was going to be the prettiest girl ever, and Ichigo-kun was going to be the most reliable guy in the human world.

Isshin already fantasized about his speech to give to random people when they came to him to tell him how amazing his children were, and he was going to be all like, "hell yeah, those two are my and my beautiful Masaki's kids!"

The twins were unique to him, and although he did hope now to have even more kids, the twins would always be his first.

His thoughts had a car accident when he went up to a third way of the stairs. There was a blue light that he couldn't recognize coming off the second floor, he was about to panic, but instead, he felt his surroundings.

There was nothing out of the ordinary.

He moved quicker up to the stairs, but just as silently, unsure of how he should react in this situation, he knew for a fact his children were not in any danger, he would have sensed it. He may have lost most of his powers in exchange for this new life, but he still had enough, so there was no cause to panic, but as a young father, he felt fright clenching over his throat.

The light was coming from the twins' room, Isshin gulped, and then stood beside the door frame.

His eyes opened like grapes as he stared into the bright room.

Ichika sat next to her brother's bed; she was facing away from the door with her head slightly bent down against her chest; her arms were inside of the bedsheets as if she was holding onto Ichigo, but what amazed Isshin and worried him was how her skin glowed.

No, her skin itself didn't glow; there was an aura above it, coating Ichika with blue light, even the dark locks of her hair were illuminated by it.

Isshin couldn't do more than gape; he remembered very well this light. He understood the aura around his daughter was the physical manifestation of what was called Reishi, the main component of all souls and spiritual matters.

He knew of many things that could control Reishi, Isshin himself had once been capable of it. But he only knew of one kind of people that could grasp Reishi from their surroundings like a magnet to iron sand. Not many remembered this kind of people; not many wanted to.

But he was married to one of them.

Soft hands trailed around his waist, Masaki stood close to him, grasping onto him as if she needed the support to remain standing. He couldn't see her face because he couldn't take his eyes away from what was happening inside the room.

He wasn't sure he wanted to see whatever thoughts course through Masaki's eyes.

The light died down, the aura around Ichika evaporating as the gathered Reishi dispersed into blue feathers-like apparitions and then into nothingness. Ichika's head lolled towards the bed and softly landed against the sheets.

Ichigo took a long and satisfying breath, no whistles accompanied it, and no coughs followed it.

Isshin walked into the room, he kneeled next to his daughter and after making sure she was asleep and well he took her in his arms and carried her to her bed, he tugged her inside and gave her a soft kiss on her round forehead before he smiled, he couldn't contain his fingers from brushing away a bang of Ichika's hair behind her ear.

"How is Ichigo?" he asked, knowing Masaki was taking care of him.

"His fever is gone," she responded. Isshin hummed in acknowledgment of her words but was conflicted about what to say to her.

"I thought… I thought that maybe…" Masaki didn't continue her words, Isshin sighed and walked towards her, taking her hand and pulling her up from her sitting position on their son's bed. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have near the children in case they woke up. They may have been three, barely babies.

But Isshin had already witnessed something that shook his whole reality tonight; he wasn't taking any chances.

He intertwined his fingers with Masaki's, never letting go as they went down the stairs and sat side by side in their blue sofa. Silence had taken residence between them, stealing away the warmth of the home, planting roses of snow wherever it went.

"This wasn't supposed to happen…" Masaki whispered, she leaned against his shoulder, and Isshin untangled their fingers so that he could embrace her wholly. Masaki hid her face against the crook of his neck, and he rested his cheek over her hair in search of the comfort of her smell.

Acorns and honey, it always worked to make him feel everything was okay even when it wasn't.

"It happened, we both saw it." Isshin spoke, "there is no point in denying it, darling."

"But how…" Masaki whined softly against him, "I thought our powers were-"

"Mines are gone," Isshin interrupted her, she flinched at the comment, and he groaned, knowing that although he didn't care about it one bit, his wife still felt that it was somehow her fault for what had happened. He didn't give a damn about power; he lost it, and what? He gained so much more. But hers? "You never lost yours; we knew this could happen."

"It shouldn't," Masaki said as she pulled away from him to look him in the eyes. "You aren't like me; they aren't pure-bloods, the chances of them inheriting my powers was so slim."

"Slim or not, there was a chance, Masaki." He pulled her back into his embrace and took a mouthful of air when he felt her sob quietly against his shirt.

"I don't want them to stand in between our people; I just want them to have a normal life, grow up, get married, and live happily and peacefully and… and…"

"We always knew they would get something out of us, Masaki," he explained, trying to calm her down. "We knew it when they were able to interact with pluses. Ichigo hasn't shown any other signs, so that means only Ichika inherited your powers, probably."

"That's not how it works…" Masaki nodded against his chest.

"Maybe it is, maybe is not," Isshin said before he sighed, Isshin wasn't sure what should he do or say, had this been his old world, he would have been so proud of his daughter showcasing her powers at such an early age, but now everything was much more complicated. "Maybe we could talk to Ishida–"

"No." Masaki pushed herself away from him; Isshin stared into those beautiful eyes that never failed to entrance him; they were so full of fire and determination right now. "I won't… I won't have my daughter becoming another piece on that ridiculous dispute; she will live a happy life away from all of that."

"What if she finds out about her powers on her own?" Isshin asked worriedly.

Masaki turned away from him, her hand against her chin as she thought hard about the matter before she came into a decision, "Then, I will teach her how to control them, but only if she wants to, I won't force her into anything. I want Ichika and Ichigo to live the lives we couldn't."

"Everything will be fine," Isshin said, he leaned closer and kissed her on the back of her neck, tenderly, only brushing his lips over her soft skin as he breathed her cent to calm his own nerves. He stood up and took her hands with a stupid grin on his face.

She looked at him, confused for an instant before giving him an innocent smile as he pulled her out of the sofa. "What are you up to?" she asked.

"Ichika-chan fell asleep, do you know what that means?" he asked, pulling her further into the kitchen as he chuckled like a kid who just stole all the cookies from the jar. "She ain't gonna eat this delicious bowl of vanilla and chocolate ice cream!"

Masaki giggled as Isshin turned around with the big bowl of ice cream in one hand and a pair of spoons in the other, his goofy smile filled with enough self-pride to supply a country with it.

Hours later, the clock beside Isshin and Masaki's bed changed its green digital numbers to four in the morning, Isshin watched it silently, with one hand holding his wife close to him while the other rested below his head.

Being a family man certainly was much harder than he ever thought, he had faced situations way more dangerous in his youth, but none of them had ever even made him lose sleep.

"A Quincy, huh?" he whispered to himself in the death of night, Masaki shuffled closer to him, and he made sure to pull the covers further up to make sure she was warm and comfortable. She always had a habit of being cold.

The word felt alien in his tongue with how long it had been since the last time it had trickle-down his teeth. There had been an unspoken rule in their house, one that prohibited any mention of it.

His eldest daughter was a Quincy.

Isshin wondered how long it would take for the word to be spoken out loud again.

* * *

**And with that, the third chapter is over! This one is significant for me as it showcases one rule of how I will be writing throughout this work.**

**That is the inclusion of OCs; it may sound quite hypocritical from me to say this since Ichika is an OC, but I do not like OCs much, I quite enjoy having one as the main protagonist of the story, Ichika can act as the eyes of the reader, but I don't want to add more than that. Bleach already has a large cast of characters to pull from, so there will be NO more important OCs in the story; of course, there are times where I will require the need of throwaway OCs here and there, and they will appear in minor, inconsequential roles. Just don't expect any OC to have more than one paragraph of importance from now on. **

**Another thing I want to discuss is the change of making Isshin be the elder brother of the other Shiba rather than a faraway family member. This is one of the only two changes in the pre-established canon that I plan to do and it will come into play later on in the story. In the future, there will be some new lore for things that didn't have any in canon, but I won't be changing or modifying much of what it is already there. **

**I won't spoil you guys what the other change is. **

**Thank you, everyone, that has taken the time to read my work. **

**Last week's question: What is your favorite opening from the Bleach Anime? **

**Mine is the third opening, High and Mighty Color - Ichirin no Hana. **

**Question of the Week: Who is your favorite character of Bleach?**


	4. S1: Between Dogs and Tigers

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence. **

**Hello everyone, here we have the fourth chapter! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**And as always, I do not own Bleach.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Season 1: Welcome Home**

**Episode 4: Between Dogs and Tigers**

**Japan – Karakura Town – Outside Furin Hall Dojo**

Sometimes I felt like I had two minds working in tandem inside my skull, one of them was the old me, a somewhat sarcastic and pessimist teenager that saw everything that was wrong with the world, like how ridiculous I must have looked with my hair currently tied up into pigtails.

Then there was my four-year-old brain that was absolutely delighted that my new hairbands holding my hair into perfect pigtails resembled blue and white crosses, a motif that always made butterflies sing inside my belly like hearing your favorite song after a long time.

I bopped my head side to side making my pigtails hop in the air while I held onto mom's left hand, Ichigo was on the other side holding her right one but just barely. My poor little brother was still too young to be able to contain all the excitement that he currently had pumping adrenaline inside his veins.

Our fourth birthday had been a couple of weeks ago, and while I got the book on healthy non-vegetarian food I had asked for, Ichigo got a more interesting gift. Ichigo had watched on tv a martial arts competition with dad earlier that week, and he had begged our parents to learn how to fight.

They agreed, and as a birthday gift, dad told us that he had signed Ichigo up in a karate dojo near our home called the Furin Hall. I had been happy for my otouto, and I had hugged the life out of him to celebrate.

That is until I found out I was also going to participate.

We finally reached the dojo's entrance, from the outside it looked just like any old-style Japanese house fenced by a low stone wall, with the only difference being the big wooden gates with the name of the dojo cut out directly in the dark wood like someone had used a machete.

I gulped.

This was all because I was stupid enough to mention that I wanted to do some kind of exercise… When I said that weeks ago, I meant something simple like jogging, not getting my teeth bashed in.

Ichigo didn't seem even one bit nervous as we stood beyond the dojo's gates; quite the contrary, I could feel from my side how mom was having to hold him from just running up and crashing through the doors as we waited for it to open. We were thirty minutes early because Ichigo and patience were like oil and water. The most ironic part of the story is that the dojo was not even 10 minutes away from our house by walking.

I brushed an inexistent wrinkle in my white karate gi, the texture of the uniform was smooth against my skin and felt rather lovely. I liked it, so if anything at least this whole thing would be worth it for the outfit, I only needed to figure out a way to avoid having to do any combat, and everything would be tolerable.

Ichigo got free from mom's grasp and ran around us, leaping every third step and making mom giggle while we waited, I instead preferred to look around while I rolled one of the bangs of my dark hair around my finger.

I liked Karakura town, it was a somewhat small city but had all the conveniences needed for a girl to thrive like shopping streets, schools and even one mall that made it unnecessary to have to travel outside often to get something, and if we did need to, the train station near the Karakura hospital connected directly to Tokyo.

From around a corner came a woman around mom's age, she had long dark hair falling neatly around her neck, she wore a dress and an apron and had a calm and collected expression on her face. What got me curious was not the woman but the girl holding onto the woman's hand. She was probably around my age and also wearing a karate gi, which was what had picked my attention to begin with.

The girl had short spiked out black hair above a pair of fierce-looking brown eyes; her eyebrows seemed to be fixed in a spot that made her look like she was barely containing the need to beat the stuffing out of someone and her thin lips reinforced the idea quite well.

I didn't want to have anything to do with the girl, but mom had other ideas, the moment the other mother came close to us, mom immediately turned towards her and gave her one of her most charming smiles as she bowed cordially. "Hello, my name is Kurosaki Masaki, my children are going to start classes today."

The other woman bowed as well and returned mom's smile with one of her own. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Kurosaki-san, I'm…" I tuned out of their conversation as shuffle myself behind my mom without appearing like I was trying to hide, I turned away and did my best to look like I were just a curious little girl, looking around way too enthralled with her new surroundings to care about the people.

Ichigo had other ideas.

He grasped my hand, and I yelped when I was tugged harshly toward the angry girl who had left her mother talking with mine some feet away from the gates, the girl stood right beside the doors looking at us as if we were her next targets.

I didn't want to cause a scene, so I let myself be dragged, quietly promising that I would bonk Ichigo in the head hard enough to fix his brain once and for all after we got back home.

"Hi!" Ichigo shouted to the top of his lungs when we reached the girl, she grimaced because of how loud he had yelled, but he didn't seem to notice and kept on going, "my name is Ichigo, and this is my Nee-san! We are twins, you know? We are gonna learn to karate today 'cuz is so cool and I can't wait! Do you know if the sensei is a cool guy? Like maybe an old type of sensei that has all these super-secret techniques but is secretly a pervert and…" he ran out of air, he took one long gulp of it and began to open his mouth, but I quickly slapped it shut with the palm of my hand.

He groaned under my hand and looked at me like I stole his cookie; I ignored him. "Sorry, my otouto is excited about today, I'm Kurosaki Ichika, what is your name?"

The girl's eyes flew from Ichigo to me, back to him, and then back to me before her eyebrows bent even further, making her appear even more like if I just insulted her mother. I felt the need to gulp and look away from her intense eyes, but I clenched my free hand behind my back to stop myself from doing it.

After one silence, that probably only lasted five seconds, but it felt like a whole minute; the girl opened her mouth and said something in a quick whisper that I didn't catch at all.

"Uh?" I said while Ichigo's head leaned sideways like a confused puppy.

"I said," she spoke just a bit louder, "Arisawa Tatsuki, that's my name." her lips thinned out, and I was afraid I had made her even angrier.

I nodded to show that I heard her, well I was done with the obligatory niceties and I wanted to run and hide… I mean, go back to mom and enjoy her company more, but as always, my mind and Ichigo's were not connected. His eyes sparkled with interested, and he said, "So cool!"

Both Tatsuki and I looked at him confused at what he meant, but before either could muster the will to ask, we were taken away from our conversation by the crashing sound of the gates unlocking behind us.

A small wave of dust came from underneath it, the hinges holding the doors cringed like the wailing of ghosts, and the trembling in my soul resonated throughout my legs as I noticed I was the person closest to the opening gates.

My eyes shut close without my consent; my hand grasped onto Ichigo's harshly, and my muscles coiled unto themselves like a turtle getting back inside its shell. I only knew when the gates finished opening because I heard them hit the stone of the dojo's fence.

"Hi!" Ichigo shouted, and I flinched a little.

"Oya? What do we have here?" came a sweet yet ashen voice from ahead.

I opened one eye to find an ancient man formed mostly out of bones and wrinkled skin wearing a karate gi and smiting demons with the light that reflected from his bald head. He was taller than mom but probably shorter than dad and had a grandfatherly air to him.

He looked directly at me, and he gave me a soft and calming smile that helped make me feel a little better about this whole situation. Maybe just maybe, this wouldn't be so bad.

I was wrong.

Twenty minutes later, I wanted to cry and call for mom to come and take me back from his hellish place already, but she had left me here to rot and die for the following two hours. I was sure I wasn't going to make it.

Everything had started nicely when Sensei – who never gave us his actual name – announced us to the rest of the kids, most of the other children were overall three or four years older than us, making Tatsuki the only one in our age group. I was beginning to get comfortable in my belief that nothing wrong would happen when suddenly the grandfatherly aura around sensei evaporated, and he began to drill us like a sergeant in the army.

First, we had to run around the dojo's square arena; he didn't tell us for how long and instead had us running until Ichigo was barely staying up by holding onto me. Then came the squats jumps and the jumping, then to the floor for push-ups.

Sweat coated my skin like a new layer; my muscles burned as if they had slashed from the inside out while my lungs screamed for relief. I could barely stand up, but I had to force myself to do it as I watched Ichigo stand next to me on the edge of my vision.

He wasn't excited about karate anymore. Instead, he was taking as much air as he could with his shoulders sagged, and his back bent forward; there was the glistening of held tears making his eyes shine.

I was having a serious debate inside my head over if Ichigo would feel better if I hugged him or if I acted like he wasn't struggling, I certainly felt like I needed a hug, but probably a sweaty hug from his older sister wouldn't help him much now.

I had stopped hoping for things to get better as we finished with the 'warm-ups' portion of the day and went onto the next new thing.

"A kata…" Sensei began explaining while we formed in lines in front of him, because Ichigo and I were new and the youngest we were put in the first line to the side with Ichigo to my left. Tatsuki ended up on my right, and I was amazed when I noticed that although she was a bit sweaty from before, she wasn't even breathing hard like I was.

Most of Sensei's explanation went over my head with the way he described a kata to be a fight but not a fight, the only thing I understood was that we would be performing a pattern of moves and that I was to copy him as he showcased it for us.

At first, every step and movement seemed natural; I did as Sensei did, copying every step and mock punch that he threw when he turned to one side or the other, at first I followed him with my head to pay attention, but after I noticed that Tatsuki was watching Sensei only with her eyes while keeping her face straight with her chest I went onto to the same.

Then Sensei finished and told us to repeat it, I had no idea how he expected me and Ichigo to do it all again after only watching it once, but the old man's fierce expression left no debate to his orders.

Everything became even worse when he began to walk around and to correct postures and wrong movements. In reality, although I say he began to walk around the truth of the matter is that he didn't, he stayed the whole hour in the front. He corrected Ichigo once over, not bending his right leg enough, and then his hawk eyes landed on my innocent body.

"Raise your arm!" he shouted from two breaths away from my ear.

"Your feet are too spread, close your legs!" he screamed behind me as he circled me like a lion over his dinner.

"You want to hit someone, not tickle them! Clench your fist like you mean it!" he said at the same time as he slapped the back of my gritted hand.

He kept on harassing me for every little mistake, and I felt my pride crash down to earth and drown on dry ground, especially when sensei delivered his killing blow on it after he finished drilling me and walked up to Tatsuki, he nodded silently without correcting anything and walked away.

A moment later, Tatsuki looked at me, that same annoying expression with bent eyebrows fixated on her face. I made a point to ignore the girl and focus on surviving; I kept repeating in my head that this was all for Ichigo's happiness, and I found proof on that when I stole a glance at him.

Ichigo wasn't on the verge of crying anymore. Instead, he was absorbed in the kata, with his eyes furrowed and his little tongue sticking out of the side of his lips while he punched the empty air.

I smiled; it was worth it.

We ended the katas, and Sensei made us sit on seiza position around the arena with our knees against the floor and folding our legs underneath our tighs, forming a square of sweat infused bodies and harsh breathing mouths around him. The position was uncomfortable, and I could tell that Ichigo's legs were hurting from it as he held on beside me, but this wasn't the biggest of my worries now.

I had almost forgotten that this could happen, I had almost hoped that we could skip for today as it was our first day and we were what most would consider nothing but babies.

No such luck.

Sensei ordered kids name by name to stand and walk to the center of the arena; he made them fight short duels of only one point, the rules were simple: no hits above or below the chest and stomach area.

At first, I felt as if the duels were more a demonstration than actual fights, most kids were polite with each other and made banter and jokes before, in, and after the match. That all ended when Ichigo was called to stand.

I was filled with apprehension as he stood, a cheeky smile on his lips and eagerness in his eyes, he leaped from the tatami floor and pranced his way to the arena like a boxer. Then Tatsuki was called, and she stood from the other side of the stage.

While my brother was pure unadulterated innocence and enthusiasm, Tatsuki moved unhurriedly, calmly like a hunter closing on its prey before pouncing. I filled my lungs with air to try and dispel the nerves, but I failed and instead clenched my fists over the fabric of my pants.

They stood in front of each other, Ichigo showcased one of his cocky smiles and swept his thumb below his nose like an anime character before he got into a stance, completely forgetting about the exchange of bows that everyone had to do before every match.

"Ichigo-kun, stand!" Sensei shouted, and Ichigo almost jumped to the ceiling like a scared cat.

Ichigo chuckled awkwardly and gave an embarrassed, "I'm sorry," as he scratched the back of his head. I felt my nails stab my skin from above my clothes with how my little brother was working my nerves to their limits.

Tatsuki, on the other hand, appeared to be getting more angrier by the second, and I was terrified of what the girl would do to Ichigo, I mean yes, most matches before theirs had all been pretty friendly, but most of the older kids also looked way happier. Tatsuki instead had a scowl deeper than the depths of hell and eyes ready to fire.

And Ichigo was on her line of sight.

Sensei stood between then, and in front of me, I leaned sideways to watch Ichigo.

"Salute!" Sensei shouted. Ichigo and Tatsuki bowed to each other.

Sensei rose his hand in front of the combatants, and after the most extended silence of my life, he exclaimed, "Shobu Hajime!"

Ichigo threw himself into his stance immediately, he shuffled ahead with his hands up, hiding his face, Tatsuki took a position and didn't waste time as she rose her arm and parried Ichigo's fist.

He kept on the offensive with a low blow that was blocked by her elbow, Ichigo grimaced and tried to take a step back while he flapped his hurt hand in the air, but Tatsuki took advantage of that and charged ahead.

She slithered around Ichigo's only raised arm by swapping her stance to the other side; she came closer.

My heart leaped.

Lighting struck my ears; there was no storm outside to make it.

Tatsuki's fist flew low and crashed on Ichigo's belly; he coughed as the air from his lungs roared out of his mouth in a fit of coughing, and he fell into the ground holding onto his belly.

"Ichigo!" I ran to him; my feet slid on the tatami floor with the desperation I felt to reach him, Sensei was already kneeling next to him and helping him stand up, but I grabbed hold of Ichigo and embraced him tightly.

He trembled in my arms, he hiccupped and began to cry loudly as he grasped my clothes with his tiny hands; fat, warm tears glided down his cheek and into my shoulder, but I didn't have the time to whisper comforting words to him before Sensei gently yet firmly pulled me away.

Ichigo cried with the sleeve of his uniform covering his eyes; Sensei made him stay up while he checked Ichigo's stomach. The old man nodded to himself and then guided Ichigo away from the circle and sat him on a wooden chair against one of the walls that I had not noticed it before.

Sensei walked back toward the arena and looked at me, "Ichika-kun, get back to your spot."

Ichigo needed me, I began talking, "But my–"

"Ichika-kun." He shut me up, he didn't raise his voice in the slightest, but the gravity of his tone felt like he had done it right on my ear. I clenched my hands in frustration over the fabric of my clothes and did as ordered.

While all this happened, Tatsuki had remained standing in the same spot, but she was looking away from us and instead had her head facing to the other side. I glared to her nape, wishing my eyes could burn a pair of holes in her skin.

"Tatsuki-kun won the match, go back to your spot," Sensei instructed and the girl walked again to her place and sat, she couldn't look behind herself to avoid my eyes anymore, but she did an excellent job of staring at the side as if she were paying attention to the boy next to her.

Three more matches came and went, I paid no attention to them; instead I kept my eyes burning marks on Tatsuki, she noticed it once but she turned away again after I didn't stop staring.

"Ichika-kun, your turn." Sensei suddenly said right after calling a match, and I held the smirk I felt growing in my lips from showing when Sensei twisted his head from my position to the side where Tatsuki sat.

There were only three kids of our age in here, with the next youngest probably being four years older than us, Ichigo was out of commission still sobbing once or twice every minute while he sat in his chair. I knew with who I was going to fight.

"Tatsuki-kun, I'm going to have you have a match with Ichika-kun, get up," Sensei ordered. The girl did and walked into the circle.

We stood one in front of the other, I glared at her, but she wouldn't look me in the eyes anymore; instead, she seemed interested in scowling at her own feet.

I knew my chances; I didn't know a thing about fighting. I had never been in one in either of my lives. I was also terribly tired, my muscles ached, my skin felt clammy, and my knees protested of all the time I kneeled on them.

Tatsuki, on the other hand, was a natural, she had done the kata smoothly without getting reprimanded once, she didn't look tired at all and had an unknown amount of more experience fighting than I did.

My chances of winning were slim, no, they were in the negatives.

Ichigo sobbed. I scrapped my nails against my palm.

It was a beautiful thing I didn't mean to win anyway.

In a fair fight, Tatsuki would dominate me, but I had one advantage that she wouldn't have.

"Salute each other!" Sensei ordered, and we both bowed.

My lungs were breathing slowly, a ring dancing on my ears, my heart beating the drums of war, and my muscles gritted.

"Stance!"

I got into the stance, my legs separated, my knees slightly bent, arms up and fist tightly clenched, Tatsuki got into a similar but more elegantly held form.

Her eyes finally looked up at mine; I saw the determination in them, a soft fire behind the white coals, controlled but with immense heat, enough to scald my skin.

I wasn't afraid.

I was angry.

Sensei's breathing came in and out like the storm, the drumming of my heart muting everything else.

His hand lifted in the air, his open palm straight like a guillotine, the air around it swimming away from it. tense seconds, then the booming explosion of his voice, "Shobu Hajime!"

My left feet smashed in the floor ahead, Tatsuki didn't move and waited for me, expecting me to go in the full offense my brother had done as well.

She would regret to be so right.

As I came at her, I knew I would not be able to last; I wouldn't be able to defend or hold against her.

She rose her hands defensively. I stopped, just away from her defense, her eyes connected to mines, a tiger staring at the wild dog that had come to challenge her on her jungle.

My knee flew high, but she intercepted it with her own, her fist came barreling toward my chest, and I leaped away to dodge it, losing my balance and knowing I moved too late as I felt her knuckles break the air against my wrist.

The tiger smelled blood and chased, I took one, two, three steps away, but she didn't leave me any room as she followed me to the edge of the circle with a barrage of punches against my arms. Tatsuki took the fourth step, and I tried to move away, sideways, but my precarious equilibrium failed me, and my feet slipped underneath me.

My arms went away from my chest as I fought with gravity, and the tiger's eyes became crimson red as her tongue already tasted the wild dog's flesh.

Time slowed.

Her hand moved, fist clenched, elbow extended, the trajectory leading to my stomach.

I wouldn't catch it.

I didn't care.

Tatsuki was a tiger, with the prowest and the strength. But I was the wild dog, weak, small, but rabid.

It didn't matter how much experience she had, how much her strength was superior to mine; I had what she didn't have.

Pain tolerance.

Her fist smashed against the soft of my belly, my organs squashed against it, but only a hint of pain flared in my insides. My arm didn't care, my fist flew toward Tatsuki, and I savored the moment the tiger's eyes lost their shine as she understood that it didn't matter if she killed the wild dog, I would still bleed her death with me.

My fist roared, and my knuckles crashed against her eye and kept on going, her head gave up and let the momentum of my hand propulse it away as Tatsuki feet lost their footing and she went down.

She hit the floor, and the sound resonated in all walls with the silence that had drowned our audience.

I still stood.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Furin Hall Dojo**

The ice bag over Arisawa Tatsuki's eye felt uncomfortable, the thing helped with the pain, but the girl was tired, and the bag was heavy, the cold also stung in her hand, and she had to swap the hand holding the ice bag regularly to stop it from hurting.

Tatsuki sat comfortably near the wall of the dojo, both her spirit and her body felt down with how things had gone so far; she tried to steal another glance at the other girl, but she was too shy and scared about the possibility that Ichika Kurosaki may notice Tatsuki staring.

She sighed instead.

Ichika had been grounded by Sensei to sit in a corner for the rest of the day for hitting Tatsuki in the face. Ichika had said it had been an accident, but Tatsuki wasn't stupid; she had seen the smile on the other girl when her fist connected with Tatsuki's face.

Tatsuki again had messed up her chances, and she felt like crying, only her knowledge of being in public held her from letting the dams break. Tatsuki had been so excited when she saw for the first time in front of the dojo a couple of kids her age. Most of the other kids she knew were all grown-ups that wouldn't play with her.

She had been so nervous, Tatsuki had first tried to approach the twins when their mother had began to talk with Tatsuki's, but she had gotten cold feet and instead ran to the Dojo's gates. Then when the twins approached her, she panicked and had no idea what to say.

Tatsuki had silently watched the twins struggle through the class; she had been distracted throughout her kata, imagining ways to help them. When the duels began, Tatsuki thought she had a perfect idea.

Ichigo Kurosaki, the boy with the orange hair, seemed the most approachable of the two twins and Tatsuki felt her heart rise when she got called to fight him; she planned to end the fight quickly, just one little soft punch to get the point and then she could have the excuse of talking to him by telling him how to improve!

Perfect plan, gold plan, one hundred percent sure to succeed.

It failed miserably.

Tatsuki was sure when she hit the boy, she didn't do it hard, yet Ichigo went down crying. Sensei and his sister had come to the rescue way to fast for Tatsuki to get over her nerves and think about helping the other boy; she regretted it when she looked at Ichika to apologize and instead saw pure hatred in her eyes.

Tatsuki knew at that moment that her chances of getting any friends had been flushed down a toilet.

She sighed again as she stared down at the floor between her crossed legs and lowered the ice bag from her eye to swap the hand holding it; Tatsuki was so enthralled with her depressing thoughts that she flinched when someone touched her shoulder.

Tatsuki's face flew up and found the girl with the black pigtails in front of her, Ichika wasn't looking at her but to the side and had one of her hands playing with the sleeve of her other arm.

The girl didn't say anything at first, Tatsuki wasn't sure if Ichika was expecting something from her and Tatsuki shyness skyrocketed inside her nerves and her brain shortcircuited.

"I'm sorry," Ichika said, and Tatsuki had to blink twice to make sure the girl in front of her was real.

"For, for what?" Tatsuki asked.

Ichika finally looked at her with one raised eyebrow for a moment before the girl let the air out of her lungs and looked at Tatsuki apologetically. "For you know… hitting you in the face."

"Is okay, it was an accident." Tatsuki quickly repeated the other girl's lie without any hint of sarcasm, Tatsuki hoped that she could get another chance to gain the twin's friendship.

Ichika groaned and began to fiddle with a bang of her hair, "I… I lied, it wasn't an accident. It's just that, well, you made Ichigo cry, and I thought you hurt him, and I got angry."

"I'm sorry for hurting your brother," Tatsuki whispered, but Ichika shook her head in denial.

"You didn't, he just got scared." Ichika smirked and pointed behind herself with her thumb over her shoulder, "Ichigo is a crybaby, but he is my otouto."

Tatsuki giggled but got quiet fast; she was unsure if it was acceptable to laugh or not, but she felt better when the other girl laughed wholeheartedly and plopped herself next to Tatsuki.

"Are you okay?" Ichika asked, "does it hurt a lot?"

"It's fine" Tatsuki shrugged, it did hurt a lot, but she didn't want to take any risk with scaring Ichika away.

The other kids had begun to work again in katas while the two girls had started their conversation, Tatsuki noticed with a smile that the other twin, Ichigo, was in the front and working fine.

"I'm happy I don't have to participate," Ichika commented with a chuckle, and Tatsuki looked at her in confusion.

"But it is fun," she said, but Ichika just shrugged.

"I don't like karate; I only came to take care of my otouto."

"You are pretty good, though."

Ichika scratched the back of her head with embarrassment before she responded, "nu-uh, you are the one that is really good. I'm just a cheater."

Tatsuki felt her heart soar as the opportunity she had been searching for finally came to her.

"Well, maybe… I could, uh," Tatsuki flinched when the other girl looked at her, she tried to look cool, but instead, only an angry-looking scowl took over her expression. "Maybe I can give you two some pointers after class?

Ichika grinned and nodded eagerly. "Yes, please!"

The girl with the pigtails clasped the hands of the other.

Tatsuki's lips danced away into a smile.

She made her first friend.

* * *

**I know, I know, I just went all out in a fight between a pair of four-year-old little girls. This is the first fight I have written, and I wanted to take it seriously because I wanted to demonstrate the style of battles that I like both to read and write. I hate fights that take 5k words and multiple chapters to get it over with, and I find ridiculous the whole monologues some characters get in those fights. I think that all battles should be like an explosion. They come fast, destroy everything and disappear just as quick as they came, every conflict in the future of this story will follow this pattern unless we are talking of someone that would purposely draw the fight out like Kenpachi.**

**And Tatsuki is finally here! I couldn't wait for her to finally appear in the story, of all the Karakura friends, she is my favorite and the one I felt that was utterly wasted, her backstory and her karate always made me feel like she was going to be very important and a sidekick for Ichigo but instead, she never became more than a passing face. This time she will get the light she deserves!**

**Sidenote: I am not knowledgable in karate at all, so the depiction of it in here may be completely wrong, please have mercy on me. **

**Last week's question: Who is your favorite character of Bleach?**

**Quite ironically for someone writing a Quincy story, my favorite character is not a Quincy but a Shinigami, Rukia will always hold a dear place in my heart.**

**Question of the Week: If you were a Shinigami, which division would you join and why?**


	5. S1: The Sun To My World

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence. **

**Hello guys! UninstallME here, The fifth episode of REstart: Bleach has arrived! Before we start the chapter, I want to say that I am currently looking for a beta reader for this story. **

**Well, without further ado, let's go to the story, shall we? I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it! **

**And as always, I do not own Bleach!**

* * *

**Season 1: Welcome Home**

**Episode 5: The Sun To My World**

**Japan – Karakura Town – Karakura Shopping District**

The strong winds teased her dress while the cloudless sky and the bright sun warmly kissed the skin of her arms. These were the days that Masaki Kurosaki enjoyed the most. Bright ones where she could go out with her whole family on a shopping trip.

The streets were buzzing with families, couples, and more enjoying the summer, and she wasn't about to waste more time inside the house, closed in there like she was sick.

She only needed to remind her idiot of a lovely husband and her two children that no, being pregnant wasn't the same as being ill.

Life had a funny way of working, Masaki had always liked to see the positive and quite enjoyed when things didn't go as planned, she wanted to think that when it happened, it was because whatever was meant to happen had changed for the better.

Like when she in the twentieth week of her second pregnancy went to the hospital to finally discover if she would be the proud mother of another mischievous girl or another adorable boy and instead what she found out almost made her husband faint.

Masaki had kept her findings a secret from her children; she wanted it to be a surprise she hoped they would enjoy

"Mommy! Look here, look!" Shouted Ichika, who had her face and hands pressed against the glass window of a hats store. Masaki giggled and took a glance around first to locate her wayward husband and her second child, only to find the two already in line in a nearby ice cream shop.

Isshin saw her looking and waved at her with a goofy smile that Ichigo quickly copied; Masaki rose her hand, but rather than return the greeting, she instead hid the chuckle that escaped from her lips.

"Mom!" her daughter shouted, and Masaki finally went to check exactly what had caught her daughters attention, what at first Masaki had thought was a hat shop was, in reality, an antiquity store that sold historical clothing, toys, books and the like. At least Masaki was happy to see that she had been right about what her daughter was pointing at.

Ichika had her finger aimed directly at an old military looking pure white cap with a black peak, and a fake plastic cross emblazoned on its front. Masaki felt the need to sigh; she didn't agree with her daughter's weird fascination with crosses and the colors white and blue. Masaki indulged it because watching her child happy made her heart flutter in delight, but…

For all that she hated to admit it, in reality, it made Masaki feel weary and creeped out. All of the things Ichika seemed to like were all little daggers that kept stabbing Masaki in the back. Masaki loved the world, but right now, even when she was surrounded by all these blessings, she felt as if the world was spitting curses at her.

Her daughter was a Quincy, just like her. She got it, Masaki understood it and was already preparing herself to one day having to teach her eldest child how to control and hide her abilities when they fully manifested.

So why did the world had to punish her further by having her innocent girl love things that just screamed 'look at me, I am a Quincy!' it was almost like if her daughter had been swapped at birth with Ishida's, the man was the epitome of Quincy pride while Masaki only wanted to have an ordinary life.

Masaki didn't hate her old friend, but the man had the same fixation, no, worse, an addiction to anything resembling Quincy culture.

"That is a cute hat, do you like it?" Masaki asked, hoping that her daughter would deny it even though she knew it was a futile dream.

Ichika nodded with a wide toothy smile, and her long black hair danced in the wind around her white sundress. "Can I have it? please?" Ichika asked, and Masaki felt her veins around her heart clench it tightly in both adoration and frustration.

She loved that her daughter was always polite, unlike the men of her family who had to be continuously railed in from their eccentricities, Masaki could always count on Ichika to be well-mannered, but it was that as well that made it difficult to deny the girl things when she rarely wanted something.

Masaki looked away from her daughter, knowing that the aversion she felt for the hat was written all over her face and not wanting to showcase it to her innocent girl. "Let's get some ice cream first and then we can buy it okay? Come on." Masaki grasped Ichika's hand. "Your dad is already on the line with Ichigo."

She took her daughter away from the store, hoping that the ice cream would distract Ichika's infant mind away from it.

It didn't.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura – Kurosaki Clinic**

The summertime burned outside the house with mild contempt, there wasn't much of a breeze today, and there weren't any clouds either to hide the distaste the sun was showing the city.

The windows were open, the backyard's door as well. The front door was unlocked, and the clinic's double doors were kept separated by two old bricks dad had taken from the yard.

The air conditioner was broken.

"Doesn't your head feel hot with that hat?" Tatsuki asked me; she was sitting right at the center of the open doors to the yard with one of the lollipops dad had given us earlier swirling in her mouth. I was sure she was regretting coming to visit us today since we had only played for about twenty minutes before we called it quits, the weather was just too hot to do anything physical.

I, on the other hand, was laying in the little section of granite floor just outside the door, I was wearing only a blue sundress and my beloved cap, and yes Tatsuki was right that my hat did make my head feel sweaty, but I wasn't parting ways with it ever.

"I'm good. Do you think Sensei would allow me to use it in class?" I asked worthlessly; I already knew the answer, but what the heck.

Tatsuki chuckled sarcastically and didn't give me an answer, I turned my head to look at her, and she raised an eyebrow and gave me a smirk, that felt like good enough of a response to leave it at that.

"Where did you get it anyway?" she asked while pointing at it like my beloved cap was a bug, I put my hand protectively over the emblazoned cross on the front of it.

"My mom bought it for me; it is special." In all honesty, I still wasn't sure why I had wanted it so much. It clashed pretty heavily with what I preferred to wear, which was delicate dresses and cute things.

But as my fingers traveled through the hat, I felt that same electricity that always coursed through my veins since the moment I saw it. I could have sworn a little voice inside my head had told me to get it. Now I wouldn't part from it ever.

I groaned and slapped the floor next to me before I whined like the spoiled kid I was and exclaimed, "Is so hot!"

"Mhm," Tatsuki agreed, her mouth occupied with her treat.

A very unmanly squeal came from upstairs, and both Tatsuki and eye sighed loudly. My dad had been trying to fix the air conditioner of the house by himself for a couple of hours, but by the constants howls that he threw every couple of minutes, it felt like he was making things worse.

I still did not understand why mom only seemed more enamored with him because of this ruckus. I loved my parents, but they were just straight-up insane.

"Tatsuki-chan!" Ichigo's voice echoed from inside the house; he came running with his hands filled with a dozen of his actions figures, and I chuckled when Tatsuki's eyes sparkled with genuine interest. Sometimes I forgot that she was a baby with her being only four and that, well, officially, I was also four too.

Ichigo ran up to us and sat next to Tatsuki in the inside of the house, he dropped the toys between his legs and then took one and pushed it into Tatsuki's chest, "Check this one out! Press the button it has like, uh, ten different lines! I think…or was it a hundred? Yes, a hundred!"

"Ten." I corrected, Ichigo looked at me like I was lying for a moment, I stuck my tongue at him.

I don't think Tatsuki heard me anyway, she was fascinated by the Kamen raider figure, and she smiled and even wiggled a little in her spot each time she pressed the button and made the toy speak, I didn't see much of the appeal since the voice lines were muffled and barely understandable.

It also wasn't as cute as my hat.

"Isshin!" mom screamed hard enough to make Ichigo and Tatsuki's souls jump out of their bodies, I only cringed and sighed at the sound, knowing that it most likely meant that we weren't getting any fresh air any time soon.

I loved dad, but he was an idiot.

Ichigo took away the action figure from Tatsuki's hands, but before she could complain, he put another one in her lap, and she got distracted with that one. I felt an itch on my back and sat to scratch the area.

"Isshin!" came a shriek so loud and desperate it barely sounded like mom anymore, I slashed my back painfully with my nails with the scare I got from it. Ichigo was no better, his toys laid forgotten around him, and he had the glistening in his eyes that spoke of tears forming. Tatsuki, on the other hand, had gone back to look angry like she always did when her nerves took the better of her.

I stood up, went to my little brother, and took one of his hands to make him stand. I nodded to Tatsuki, and she seemed to understand that I wanted to investigate now, she nodded back to me and pushed herself up.

I went ahead toward the guts of the house, walking over to the stairs, Ichigo hid behind me and stood so close that I felt the warm air he exhaled licking the exposed nape, Tatsuki was next to me, and we shared a look before I gulped and processed to walk upstairs.

I reached the third step before all hell broke loose.

A cry that sang with pain and danced with fear burst out of mom's lips before dad jumped down the stairs with her in his hands and an expression of horror holding onto his eyes. Although I saw his face for a mere second, mom's body in his hands hid it, and I realized as he kept running down the stairs that dad had not noticed the three scared children paralyzed at the bottom of them.

"Move!" I hissed to Ichigo as I retraced my steps down, I held tightly onto Ichigo's hand and grasped for Tatsuki's sleeveless shirt and pulled her with me without caring if she fell or not. I only wanted to get us all out of the way before things became worse.

We stopped at the side of the stairs barely seconds before dad also reached the bottom, he didn't notice us there, but it seemed like he was trying to look for us because his wild eyes dashed around the living room before he shouted, "kids come here!"

"We are here," I said, and dad balked before his eyes caught mines; he looked so worried and desperate at the same time that I felt my heart begin to run as hard as a horse.

"Everything is fine," dad said more like he was trying to reassure himself than us, "everything is perfectly fine! We have to go to the hospital right now! Go, go go!"

"W– what's wrong?" Ichigo asked with his voice trembling almost as much as his body against mine did.

Dad didn't answer; he instead began to walk toward the front door while Ichigo kept repeating his question over and over. I was taking short and quick breaths to try and keep my mind from panicking, but then my eyes wandered to the floor and…

Red.

Crimson colors sweep into the wooden tiles; there was so much of it, puddling and dripping down from the stairs. A line had formed from upstairs and followed directly up to dad.

Blood rained down mom's dress, tears falling one by one. I forgot how to breathe.

"Kids come on!" dad shouted as he opened the door and ran out without closing it, I felt something tug my hand, but I was frozen in place.

I had never been around so much blood in my life, even in my old life shackled to a hospital, most of the blood I had seen had been my own and had been in syringes when a nurse would come to take some for their silly tests.

The smell of iron hit me hard, and I was afraid, afraid that if I dared move a muscle, then the rest would shut down and…

"Ichika!" Tatsuki shouted right on my ear so hard it left me a ringing noise in the back of it, I jumped away, and the only thing that kept me from falling was Ichigo holding me.

I was confused and tried to ask what was going on, "wha–"

"Let's go!" Tatsuki interrupted me.

Ichigo and Tatsuki nodded to one another and began to run, my little brother never let go of my hand and pulled me with him, and we went into the light of the front door.

We had to stop a moment to figure out where dad had gone. "There!" Ichigo shouted as he pointed to the street on the right, dad was a couple of houses ahead of us still running uncaring of the blood mom was dripping down the road.

We chased after them.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Karakura Hospital**

Never had I been more thankful for the existence of cars than I was now. I had always considered a good thing that we didn't have one in our home, but today I regretted it as much as if it had been my fault that we lacked one.

I shuffled my butt in the bench were I was sitting, there wasn't much space to move since Ichigo and Tatsuki were seated at my sides as we waited in that lonely corridor.

Tatsuki's hand hovered over mine. I stole a glance at her and found her staring at the doors were the doctors had wheeled my mom in with my dad running right behind them. I forced a smile into my lips and accepted her hand and the warmth she was willing to give me.

I was thankful for her friendship. If it hadn't been for her mother coming to the rescue with her car…

My mom could have…

Could have…

I clenched my hands, taking in the conform Tatsuki gave me and giving mine to Ichigo, who quietly weep next to me. If this situation was terrible for me, then it was much worse for him, my little brother was but a big baby.

I freed his hand and then wrapped his shoulders with my arm and tugged him closer to me; he didn't resist and hid his face on my shoulder.

Tatsuki's mother appeared from around the corner with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand and a worried expression on her face; the woman looked so much like her daughter right now with only age and her long hair to differentiate them. She walked towards us and leaned beside her daughter while looking at all of us.

"Are you kids hungry? They have a cafeteria downstairs," she said with an apologetic smile.

I felt the need to shook my head in denials, my throat was too dried up, and I didn't want to talk, but sadly, I wasn't alone here. We had missed our lunch, and I knew for a fact that Ichigo would be hungry.

I glanced to my otouto, he needed food, even if he wasn't asking for it now. But I didn't want to leave this chair. I turned towards Tatsuki's mother, and the woman sighed as if she understood me by just looking at my eyes.

"There is a vending machine around the corridor," she said and looked to her daughter with a motherly grin, "I'm will get you guys something from there, you are in charge, okay, baby? I will be just around the corner."

Tatsuki nodded, and her mother left us there.

There was nothing much to look at from where we sat; the corridor was empty, only white walls and the illuminated blue crosses in them here and there to make us company, the doors in front of us were also blue, and they had a pair of small windows that were way too tall for me to imagine stealing a glance of what was going on inside.

There was a bright red light above them, shaped like a square that reminded me of a traffic light. I knew it meant the room was in use, but I wished there was some written sign that specified what it meant, if only for the sake of having something else to distract myself with.

I was at least happy that we didn't hear anything, mom had been screaming and bleeding all the way to the hospital, almost as if all of her guts had decided to evacuate her body all of a sudden.

It was hard to remain still; I wished I was taller so that I could tap on the floor with my sandals, I wanted my hands to be free so that I could knock on the wall. The wait felt eternal, and the ignorance of what was happening only made it worse.

I didn't know much about pregnancies but bleeding a new river didn't sound like something familiar. Mom and our new little sibling were both in danger, and I didn't know how I would react if anything happened to either of them.

I still didn't even know if my new little sibling was a girl or a boy, our parents had kept it a tight secret and had not yet allowed me to take a glimpse at the new baby's room.

I heard Ichigo snore in my shoulder, my eyes opened like plates in surprise, but then I smiled, happy that he had fallen asleep and would be able to calm down, he deserved some rest. I wished I could have followed him, but I was way too alert and still in my flight or fight mode, I didn't think I would be able to calm down until I got any news and even then…

"Oh, your brother fell asleep." Tatsuki's mother said in a whisper just loud enough for me to hear, I was a bit surprised because I had not noticed her coming back. I only nodded to her, and she smiled, "I have a pair of melon breads in my purse, do you want to eat it now, Ichika-chan? Or should we wait for your brother to wake up?"

I was about to agree to wait for Ichigo to wake up, but then the light above the door turned off and distracted us all.

I stared at it in wonder, my breathing quickened, and I felt a mixture of nervousness and eagerness get injected into my bloodstream and firing up my blood as my eyes fixated on the doors.

A nurse pushed one of the doors open with her shoulder; she had one of those hospital masks in her face and walked away without saying a word, the open door began to close, and I wasn't sure why but that image made me have to push myself out of the bench and stand.

I needed solid ground beneath my feet.

I didn't notice I had woken Ichigo up until he called for me, "Nee-chan?"

I turned towards him, sleep and confusion held tightly unto his face still, and he was rubbing his knuckles against one of his eyes.

My lips wavered, I needed to look strong for him, but I didn't felt strong, my knees trembles and my nails clenched harshly against my palms, I heard the doors open again behind me, but I ignored them, more worried about Ichigo until a tired voice spoke from my back.

"Kids?" came dad's voice; I twisted my body so fast. I almost fell.

He seemed to have aged twenty years in the span of two hours, he wasn't wearing his bloody clothes anymore and instead had clean blue medical scrubs with gloves and everything. His shoulders were slumped forward, his eyelids slightly sagged, and he breathed slowly as if he needed every bit of air to remain conscious.

His familiar cheeky smile wasn't there, and I could only imagine the worse.

"Otou-san?" Ichigo asked as he moved forward. I wanted to ask so many questions, but I couldn't muster the strength; instead, I took hold of Ichigo's hand as he came to stand beside me.

Dad turned toward Tatsuki's mother instead, "Thank you for taking care of my children, Arisawa-san, I will be taking them from here."

"Is everything okay?" the woman leaned down and took her daughter in her arms, Tatsuki's eyes shared a glance with mines as she was lifted up the ground.

Then I felt dad's hands taking Ichigo and me up, one on each of his wide arms as if he wasn't as tired as he appeared.

His smile returned.

"Everything is fine… now is the time my kids meet the new additions to the family!" he chuckled, and Tatsuki's mother let out a breath and then a giggle dance away from her lips.

It took me a couple of seconds to process his words, but as they did, I first grinned widely… then my face changed to one of utter confusion.

New additions?

Plural?

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

A strange beast had taken residence in our home, it was one we once knew very well, but that had become almost a legend, a fairytale made real after so long. It was a creature that sometimes I hated, sometimes I liked, but it was one that had been sorely missed for this long four months.

It's name?

Silence.

For the first time in months, while the sun was up, I could hear the birds chirp outside my window, I listened to the breeze touch the trees around our house for the first time in ages.

I could hear my thoughts.

But I wasn't in my room, enjoying the view or listening to the birds, I was doing research right now, a critical investigation. Today was the day I found out what the newest additions to our family looked like when they weren't transformed into the most monstrous and dangerous weapons in all known universes.

There, inside the farthest room of the second floor of the house, rested a crib surrounded by pink walls and toys, inside that crib laid not one sleeping baby, but two.

Another pair of twins.

My little sisters.

Their names?

Karin and Yuzu Kurosaki.

I peered further into the crib. I was hanging from my arms above the crib's fence, doing my best to get a view of my little sisters while they weren't crying their hearts out, something that they did almost constantly.

Karin was the eldest of the two; she had dad's dark locks as well as his eyes that reminded me so much of my friend Tatsuki because they seemed always to be frozen in an expression of annoyance as if she had come into the world already holding a grudge against it.

In contrast, Yuzu reminded me of melon bread, with the same brown eyes as Ichigo and I had inherited from mom and a tuft of light brown hair the same as mom. Looking at Yuzu was like looking at mom.

They were beautiful, even if all they did when they were awake was shriek like a pair of tiny banshees, I already adored them.

I heard the creaking of the door behind me, and then a gasp and I let go of the crib and landed perfectly lovely and safe in the floor, I stole a glance towards the door and held up an awkward smile as my only line of defense against the exasperated look that shined through mom's eyes.

I held up a finger in front of my mouth, and she held one herself pointing outside of the room.

I begrudgingly followed her outside.

"What were you doing up there?" she asked me as she closed the door. She didn't look angry, but it was sometimes hard to gauge with mom, especially when she thought I was doing something dangerous.

"I was…" would it sound weird if I said I wanted to see the little twins when they weren't crying?

Mom sighed loudly with her eyes closed and her hands above her waist, "okay, no excuses, Ichika, let's get you down and–"

Silence died, war first came with a whimper that made cold sweat traveled down my and mom's backs, then came the initial wails of one of the twins that were soon followed by the other.

By the time mom tugged me out of the way and opened the door to the room, Karin and Yuzu had gone full ballistic, the cries of the other making them scream louder and louder until I could swear my ears were bleeding.

"Tiny twins alarm!" I shouted and ran away; I thought I heard mom calling out my name, but the pair of fire alarms muted her; I ran halfway downstairs before dad peered from the bottom of the stairs with a couple of milk bottles on his hands and a goofy smile on his face.

He was insane if he was going up there happy.

I, for my part, decided to do the most mature thing a little girl could do in this situation. I ran up to the sofa where Ichigo was watching tv, threw myself over him, making a point to ignore his complains as I grabbed a pillow and put it over my head.

Time when by slowly, I once heard that time flies when you are having fun, but I did not believe in such a thing. Every day brought a new set of challenges to overcome and enjoy. Living my life step by step, I slowly forgot what came before it.

My fear of hospitals receded, and I accepted to help clean the clinic from time to time while dad worked as a doctor and forced mom to wear a ridiculous nurse costume for his enjoyment.

Ichigo and I got into kindergarten, where at first, stupid kids thought they could get away with bullying my brother because of the color of his hair.

I got suspended for three days, and I got grounded away from my healthy cookbooks.

Tatsuki became closer to Ichigo and me, she slowly grew out of being shy and instead became more outgoing, although her angry face and tomboyish personality never changed.

My first day of school came and went, a dream come true, which both Ichigo and I walked to with bright smiles. Ichigo wanted out of it by the end of the first period; I never wanted to leave.

Mom tried to plant a flower garden in the front of the house; I accidentally poured vinegar on it. I got grounded away from my cookbooks again…

One day the peak of my hat got cut by accident after dad, Ichigo, and I decided to fight in the kitchen surrounded by knives and the like. The hole left in my cap had the form of a 'V,' and if I tilted down, it was positioned in the perfect spot to leave my left eye visible. I thought it looked pretty cool and didn't get angry with the pair of idiots

Mom did.

We all got grounded out of the kitchen.

Karin and Yuzu grew from crying all the time to instead following me all the time, a pair of tiny ducklings that singsonged "Onee-chan" together as we played in the park. They would happily follow me up and down even after we found a pretty big mud puddle, and I decided to have a little fun in there.

Mom found all three of us with only our eyes poking out of the puddle.

I got grounded away from my cookbooks for two weeks after that.

It didn't matter that much to me, watching mom ground me while she had to hold her hand above her mouth to hide the smile on her lips, spying on her later laughing until tears fell off her eyes while dad held her with a loving expression in his eyes made it all worth it.

Our family orbited over her; she was the golden sun of our system. Ichigo's tears would never hold out after mom tugged him on her arms. Yuzu would always laugh when mom picked her up, Karin's angry eyes would disappear after being kissed on the cheek by mom.

Dad would look more alive than ever when mom was on his arms.

Masaki Kurosaki wasn't just my mom; she was the world.

As she grasped my hand and smiled down at me with her loving eyes, she guided me through the days of this new life. The weeks followed right behind us as dad took the little twins on his arms, and mom grasped his waist. Years accompanied us while Ichigo took my free hand, and we all laughed together.

Five years more passed for our family in utter happiness, we celebrated Karin and Yuzu's fifth birthday with a family party and a visit to the amusement park, I forced Ichigo into the roller coaster, the attendant had been distracted, and we were able to smuggle our way in without troubles.

Ichigo got out crying.

I got out grounded.

We ate the cake. I got another cookbook, Ichigo won his first match of karate against Tatsuki not soon after. That she forgot to dodge a punch that came slowly to her chest was never spoken loudly.

Sadly winning once had gotten into my little brother's head, he began to take karate way more seriously. To the point that two weeks later, on the seventeenth of June, he didn't want to miss classes even when the sky was filled with enough dark clouds to hide the sun and scare away the light.

I wanted to skip classes, and our parents agreed that it would be better to do so, but Ichigo saw no rain was falling, so in his opinion, there was no reason to miss the day. He gave mom his best puppy eyes, and she couldn't resist and accepted to take him.

I bit the inside of my cheek and promised myself that I would beat the stubborn out of my adorable little brother.

Mom noticed my annoyed expression; she gave me one of her adoring smiles, and she offered me her hand as she opened the front door of the house.

"let's go together, Ichika," she said.

I took her hand.

* * *

**And there ends the episode! This chapter was meant to mostly showcase the birth of the two most lovable characters in Bleach, Yuzu, and Karin. Two of my favorite characters that I also felt never enjoyed the spotlight in the story that they deserved. I will be honest and say that I plan on focus on only a small set of characters from Bleach, although I don't plan on outright deleting any character, some of them will have their roles in the story diminished compared to canon. I will be taking that space to give to characters I consider more deserving of the parts. One thing I promise is that I won't bash on any character at all. There is literally only one character in the whole of Bleach that I genuinely hate, and I will do my best to properly use him before I dare fulfill my fantasy of killing him off. **

**I won't tell you who he is, but it doesn't matter; by the time he comes around, the story will be way on its way. **

**Last week's question: If you were a Shinigami, which division would you join and why?**

**This one is easy for me; I want to join the Eight Division and immediately start Shunsui's Fanclub. Nanao doesn't understand just how lucky she is; I would happily drown on paperwork to be near the hottest captain of them all.**

**Question of the Week: Which character of Bleach do you think didn't live up to their potential in the canon? Who would you have liked to see more off?**

** Remember to review! Even a few words do honestly make me feel better for the whole week, reviews make me write faster!**


	6. S1: Monsters All-Around

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence.**

**Hello again guys, This chapter is coming a couple of days earlier! The last episode's reception was so good, with more than triple the number of views and so many new reviews that I couldn't stop writing, haha. **

**I'm very thankful to everyone that has taken the chance with my story and has enjoyed it, but I am not going to ramble now; I know you aren't here for that hehe.**

**Enjoy the new chapter guys!**

**And as always, I do not own Bleach!**

* * *

**Season 1: Welcome Home**

**Episode 6: Monsters All-Around**

**Shadow Realm – Lichtreich – Ruins of Silbern**

History has a tendency to rot.

Facts are forgotten, lies are made up. By the time historians decide to write it, half of it is the truth, while the other is made-up tales and strings of deceiving.

This is how legends are born, when mere men become gods to the eye of the future generations.

But he wasn't a lie; he wasn't a mere man.

He was already a god. He was the sealed king.

His history was forgotten, his legends all but erased.

But a song remained, one called the Kaiser Gesang.

The people remembered the first verse of the song.

_After nine hundred years of being sealed, he would regain his pulse._

And the forgotten lands hidden in the shadows saw the light for the first time. The people that had been cast away from the human world to live in this forsaken world to avoid extinction began to call their new home the Lichtreich, the empire of Light. The frozen wastes gave away to forests and rivers, and towns and cities started to grow.

These people called themselves the Quincy, and they knew that the song had another verse.

_After another ninety years, he would regain his intellect._

The old palace of Quincy's legend sprawled itself from nothingness in the center of Lichtreich. Silbern it was called, of white stone and iron murals, of sizes unimaginable for the simple folk and grandeur unfitting for them. The Quincy admired the fortress from afar, but none dared step in it.

People began to realize; the song wasn't a song as they whispered the third verse.

_And after nine more years, he would absorb the power of every 'impure' Quincy to make their abilities his own._

And men hid, fear took hold in their hearts as the time went on. The Quincy gazed at the massive walls of Silbern, awaiting what they believed to be inevitable.

Nine years later.

The pillars of blue light crashed upon the world.

And God opened his eyes.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Karakura River**

The weather was one of those things you could never count on; sometimes, I found the more immature part of my brain thinking that the sky was alive and that he quite liked to annoy the people down below by giving them mixed signals about what it planned to do for the day.

"Ichika-chan, come closer I don't want you to get wet," mom said.

I grumbled instead.

It wasn't raining anymore; today has been a day where the sky had decided that consistency was a sin and instead had gone into this angry and childish fit where it would harshly pour for twenty minutes where water and wind would come and crash over the town.

Only for the following next twenty to only be filled with dark yet calm clouds mocking us from above.

Mom guided me and my younger twin brother, Ichigo, on the elevated sidewalk next to the Karakura river, the waters were swollen by the constant streams of rain that made it look more like an angry snake slithering over the concrete and into the grass.

On good days we would walk there next to the waters, Ichigo would sometimes get distracted by the fishes that poked their fins out of the river, but mom had not allowed us to even get near the stairs because of how angry the waters looked.

Is not like I fought her about it, if it had been my decision we wouldn't have gone today to karate at all and instead we would have stayed in the warm embrace of the sofa watching tv all together as a family with a bowl of popcorn that would probably become a subject for another family feud.

Some people in our family still needed to learn what the word sharing meant.

Totally not me, of course.

I may have been more mature than my twin brother, but we were still only eight-years-old kids, there was still one month to go before our ninth birthday.

I began to walk closer to mom; she was holding an umbrella with one hand while the other held onto Ichigo, he was barely paying attention to where we were walking, but thankfully mom was keeping a speed that was slow enough for him to avoid slipping on the wet cobblestones.

Still, I wanted to get back home quickly, this year, autumn had decided to take its sweet time coming, and the hot, humid air stuck to my sweaty body that was covered first by my karate gi and then by my blue parka that only made the situation even more uncomfortable.

I was quite tempted to jump into the rain the next time it started; rainwater would feel so much better against my skin that the sticky, honey-like substance coat that my sweat had become. I just wanted a bloody shower.

Mom could feel my lousy humor, and she kept tugging Ichigo to hurry while she gave me one-off smiles here and there. "Ichika, what do you want for dinner tonight?"

"I want curry!" Ichigo shouted, raising his free hand into the air.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "Curry is smelly; I want grilled sardines."

Ichigo's face transformed into a modern art piece as he proclaimed his opinion on my choice, "ew! Sardines are disgusting!"

I scoffed at such an ignorant comment, looking up, expecting to find mom backing me up, but she only held an awkward smile, and that's when I recalled that she also didn't like sardines.

I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. This family didn't understand all the health benefits of eating sardines!

They were also delicious.

"Oh dear, don't be like that," mom said as she walked closer to me, and she leaned down to whisper over my head, "I will do some grilled sardines for you when we get home if you smile for me, okay?"

I sighed, I wanted to hold onto my grudge, but I also wanted healthy non-disgusting, aka non-curry food. "Okay, Okaa-san," I gave her a big toothy smile that was just a little bit forced on my part. Mom chuckled, though, so I consider it a win and paid attention to the road ahead instead.

The clouds were starting to cry again, their tears falling slowly and playing a song as they landed on the umbrella, they sang their tunes when they fell into the puddles. The wind ran with them, and the sky darkened.

"Get closer to me," mom said and we did, she held the umbrella closer to her and slightly bent ahead as the rain started to come from that direction rather than from directly above, I felt the cold sting of the droplets tickling my cheeks and I opened my lips slightly in the hopes of catching one with my mouth.

I couldn't contain a giggle when I finally felt the freezing pinch of one at the tip of my tongue. I felt the rain poke my hat, and I was surprised by that before I noticed Mom had stopped walking.

"Uh?" I wondered out loud, turning around and finding mom had not stopped because she wanted, but instead, she had been stopped by Ichigo, who was looking intensely to the river.

The rain and the wind picking up made it hard to find whatever he was looking at; I had to close my eyelids a little, but then I caught it.

There was someone next to the angry waters of the river; it looked like a girl our age from where I stood, with short dark hair around her head, and wearing what I assumed was a purple bed sheet. She had her back to us.

I cringed and felt the muscles of my legs contract for a second as I saw the river become wilder, and its waters lick the ground where the girl's feet would have been, but then I noticed how there wasn't any, the sheet wasn't big enough that it would cover them either, there was a noticeable empty space between where the cloth ended, and the ground started.

I shrugged, feeling a slight touch of pity for the ghost but not having any wishes to deal with it, I was about to keep walking when mom shouted, "Ichigo!" and my neck recoiled back towards the river in fear.

Ichigo had untangled his hand from mom's and had charged toward the rumbling snake that the waters had become, his feet almost sliding as he ran downhill the muddy path towards the river.

"Ichigo!" I shouted too and went around mom and followed him in the hopes of catching him; I was afraid he was going to try and grasp the ghost, and then he would fall into the river instead.

"Don't go, it is dangerous! Stay here!" Mom screamed with fear and desperation, mixing in her voice, but I didn't stop, instead just glancing back as I planned to tell her that I would grab him.

Instead, I almost lost my step as I saw mom's face stricken with panic and her arms moving weirdly as if she were holding a bow and suddenly…

She was.

From nothingness a bow made of blue energy materialized in mom's hands, it was bright, and it emanated light and a sound like the one from a microwaved turned on that still reached my ears over the pouring rain, mom pulled on the bow's string and an arrow of blue energy began to appear and form around her fingers.

I couldn't understand what was happening; panic had injected so many drugs into my veins that I was sure I was seeing things that weren't truly there. "Mom!?" I screamed, feeling the ligaments of my throat snap with how much terror and confusion had flushed through them.

Then an inhuman howling made me turn back to the river. Ichigo was still running toward the ghost as if he had not noticed the shadowy tentacle coming out of the girl's head and going upwards.

The girl wasn't a ghost. It was bait.

A shadow loomed behind her, dark and indescribable, crimson eyes shined through the rain as the creature advanced closer to the shore and closer to my little brother.

"Ichigo!" my throat gave out, I felt a fire inside it, and my scream came more like a croak, I fell into the mud as I lost my balance and clawed at it as I tried to get back up to get to Ichigo.

"Ichika, don't go!" mom shouted, but I didn't stop.

Ichigo was in danger.

Ichigo needed me.

Ichigo was so close nothing but mere meters away now, and the looming shadow had already reached the shore and stood just behind the ghost girl.

I wouldn't get there in time.

Mom appeared from thin air in front of Ichigo; he crashed against her legs as she rose her weapon toward the darkness with eyes.

The ghostly bait finally moved as the tentacle in her head pulled her upwards as the monster of shadows let another guttural scream that sounded like the echoes of a dying beast and the scrapping of metal.

Mom aimed her bow.

Ichigo fell to the mud.

The beast's dark claws glinted in the rain.

I reached Ichigo and grasped fistfuls of his clothes to pull him away.

Mom pushed us away with her leg and began to order me, "Ichika, take Ichi–"

Then a pillar of blue light came crashing down from the sky and engulfed mom in its blinding light; my eyes burned as I tried to look, and I hid them behind the cover of my arm.

"Mom!" I tried to scream, but the sounds of the wind, the crushing pillar, and the howling of the beast muted my pleading voice.

The light disappeared as suddenly as it had come, mom was breathing harshly with her hair slightly disheveled and her body trembling, the bow of energy she had been holding before had disappeared as well, and mom was gaping at her empty hands as if she didn't understand what had happened.

Red bird-like claws materialized from the looming shadow and soared towards us, mom turned to shield us, she grasped Ichigo under her, but I saw those horrible bony hands, they were almost as big as mom was, she wouldn't be able to do anything.

I grasped her and tried to shove her away, but she was so tall, and I was so small, I could only move her so much before the claws fell, I felt the echoes of the impact as mom's shoulder crashed against the side of my face, and she and Ichigo flew away.

I was stunned, my legs gave out from under me, and I fell backward headfirst into the grass that cushioned my impact a little but not enough for me to feel the pain. I moved my arm to press the spot where it hurt in my head, and I felt a sticky mess of hair clung onto my fingers, and when I pulled them out, I saw red gunk of mud and blood clinging to them.

Mom had landed with her chest to the ground near where the earth began to rise to the sidewalk. I could only see her feet from my position in the mud, "mom!" I shouted, and I tried to stand, but I felt the world twirl in my vision, the sky went down, and the ground rose up; my stomach was squished dry as the bile climbed up my throat and into my mouth.

I let it all out; I was on my hands and knees while a half-digested yellowish mess escaped my mouth and mixed with the mud below. Then a giant red hand landed next to me.

I tried to crawl away, but another hand smashed over my back, and I screamed as the pressure pushed my face against my vomit and quickly began to press further and further.

Something cracked inside me; it broke the container of a burning fire that spread in my chest as I felt the exact moment in which a second of my ribs gave up and broke, I could swear I heard the sound of it snapping like a pair of chopsticks.

Then the pressure disappeared, I whimpered, pushing myself away with only my feet as the tears of fear and pain blinded my vision, I wanted out of here, I was scared. Mom was injured, I didn't know what happened to Ichigo, and a monster was above me.

The creature claws then crawled below me, digging into the ground to get me, "no, no no no no," I begged to no one but instead of pulling me the creature pushed me to the side.

As if it had wanted me to look at him, I was now staring at those giant crimson eyes.

The monster was massive; its face looked like a hard white mask like the one tribesmen would wear; its body was covered in dark greenish fur except for the gigantic, empty hole that ran through the center of its chest, it had bony red arms and feet with long claws.

Its face came closer, I felt it breathe my scent as an obese man would do to its food, it was still moving closer, and I rose my hand and pressed against its snout in desperation. The beast quickly grasped my arm with two of its fingers, I tried to pull away, but my arm wouldn't budge.

I wailed without words, panic and fear had left me as nothing, but an animal without thoughts only the desperation to live kept me from going insane but not even that kept me from losing myself when the beast finger's closed onto my arm, slowly bending my elbow backward.

"No, no, please, no, please no," I begged, a glint of recognition came into its eyes, but it was too late.

My elbow snapped.

* * *

**Human World – Karakura Town – Karakura River**

The human world had changed quite drastically since the last time he had put a foot in it. The old world was much more straightforward, but the new one had its… advantages.

He appeared from the shadows of a nearby tree and felt the presence of the mindless creature ahead of him. The giant monster noticed him too. Most wouldn't have, as he was hiding his powers, but the beast was too close.

The weight and pressure of his powers pushed over the monster, making it scream in pain as it felt its body break down. But he didn't want to kill the beast, so he stood and waited patiently as the creature crawled back into the river and slashed the air to create a dark portal back to its world.

He finally took a step away from the tree's shadow, and another man followed after him.

Yhwach's old uniform clung to his skin, his tattered black cape danced in the stormy wind as much as his hair did, next to him stood a man that wore a similar, but better maintained white uniform under a white hooded-cloak, the hood laid against his back and his long blond hair remained calm and slick against his back as if it refused to accept the weather's demands.

Yhwach walked forward, taking in everything that his eyes touched. He had seen this scene countless times; his memories were full of it as if he had lived what had happened here with his flesh.

"Your Majesty?" the blonde man called out to him from where he stood.

"Walk with me," Yhwach commanded, his voice calm but packed with weight.

The blonde man came to him as they came near a woman with brown hair. The clothing of her back was trashed, and a puddle of blood was forming as it dripped from the gaping hole. Her body was slightly bulging upwards as it hid a smaller one underneath — an unconscious boy.

The woman's lungs still fought for oxygen.

Yhwach's eyebrow rose in question, and then he scoffed lightly much to the confusion of his aide. His thoughts forced a smile upon his weary lips.

"Did you saw this?" he asked.

"This…this wasn't the way it was supposed to happen." The blonde responded to his inquiry.

"Indeed is not." Yhwach glanced towards the other body that laid far from the woman and her unconscious boy. There was a girl near the river that was lying like a broken doll. One of her arms bent the wrong way, and she was slightly buried under the mud.

"That girl…I never saw her in the visions," the blonde man said, and Yhwach nodded, he went towards her, and his aide followed him close. The blonde man kneeled next to the girl and took the glove out of one of his hands before he pressed two fingers against her neck.

"She still lives, your majesty…"

"Indeed, she does."

The man took his fingers away but remained kneeled next to the girl as he glanced towards his lord, "I don't understand; she wasn't supposed to be here; she just doesn't exist. When I held your powers, your majesty, I never saw–"

"Yet she is, do you understand what it means, Jugram?"

The blonde man, Jugram Haschwalth, remained quiet as he did not.

"This girl is invisible to my eyes," his lord explained, and Jugram's eyes gawked as his majesty's words.

Yhwach rose his left hand and pulled the sleeve of his worn uniform until his aged wrist was visible to the world, from his other hand manifested a small blue blade of energy the size of a knife. "Open her mouth," he commanded, and Jugram gasped and remained motionless for a breath before his mouth closed, his eyes frowned, and he nodded to his lord's commands.

Jugram slowly moved the girl's head, so her mouth was up, then he parted her lips.

His majesty stood above, his wrist looming over her as the energy blade lashed at his skin and blood splashed in all directions, the crimson liquid began to drip down, and the droplets fell inside the awaiting mouth of the unconscious girl.

"As I was, As I am, the pillar of our people…" Yhwach began to speak with his voice booming over the sound of the storm. His next words made Jugram's eyes open like plates. "My daughter will, one day, replace me. I am the vengeance; I am the conqueror; I'm the Almighty; my name is war. Hers will be Eternal; hers will be… nothing."

The blood stopped flowing as the injury in Yhwach arm disappeared, the flesh knitting itself anew with the help of luminous blue threads of energy. His majesty lowered his arm and walked away without taking another glance as if his business here were finished.

"Your majesty?" Jugram asked, and his lord stopped to hear him, "should I deal with the woman and the boy?"

His majesty laughed, Jugram had never heard such a sound, and he wasn't sure if he enjoyed it or if it terrified him.

The king of the Quincy spoke, "Her mere existence has already drifted our destinies away from the carefully laid down road that my father created for this world. I have no wish to interfere more for now. It will be her choice if the woman lives or dies."

Jugram bowed to his lord. "As you command, your majesty."

His lordship touched the bark of a nearby tree with one finger, the shadows of the tree moved at his command to create a door of pure darkness, he stepped inside without looking back, the gates to the other world remained open behind his path.

Jugram, on the other hand, felt indecision hold onto his boots, he began to walk away but then stopped and turned his head to glance back towards the unconscious girl. Questions weighed down his thoughts and made his lips turn downwards; he knew he would receive no answer to any of them even if he dared ask them out loud.

"Goodbye, girl," Jugram said even when he knew she wouldn't hear him, he scoffed and felt like he needed to say something more, "or should I call you, your highness?" the title felt empty in his lips and that made him feel a fit of anger boil in his muscles.

Jugram frowned, unable to contain his emotions, he walked away again, uncaring of the mud and the rain that clung to him as he stepped through the dark doors to the shadow realm.

The gates closed behind him.

* * *

**Soul Society – Seireitei – Fifth Division's Barracks**

She was late.

A girl wearing a black kimono, a stack of papers almost her size in her hands, and a pastel green cloth keeping her black hair tied into a bun ran as fast as she could without endangering the documents in her hands.

She left a trail of dust behind her as she ran through the corridors of the barracks, leaving a couple of her underlings chuckling in her wake. She ignored the stairs to the second floor of the ancient wooden barracks of the fifth division. Instead, she went onto one of the wooden bridges that supported the second floor's footbridges.

The girl leaned her head sideways to keep a vision of one of the pillars holding the footbridge, she stuck her tongue a little out of her mouth and gulped air as she came near and jumped.

Her strength and speed kept her feet from sliding as she ran up the pillar until she finally stepped in the deck railings, the girl jumped on it and smiled a second before she felt the tower of papers in her hands begin to dip to the side.

"No, no, no, no, no, don't you dare, not now!" she struggled to wave the stack side to side in the hopes of regaining her balance, she sighed profoundly after she miraculously succeeded and then took one step in the air and landed safely in the footbridge.

Undoubtedly that had saved her enough time that she didn't need to run anymore; her destination was just at the end of the bridge on the first rice paper door. She walked up to it and smiled before she knocked on the lower section of the door, which was made of wood with her feet.

"Aizen-taicho, the morning files are here!" she called out as she did her best to slide the door open with only her feet.

"Good morning, Hinamori-kun, it is good to see you are lively as always." responded a man from inside, his calm and friendly words arising a speck of heat into the girl's, Momo Hinamori, cheeks. She didn't trust herself to not say something stupid, so instead she walked to one side of the office she knew like the back of her hand.

She dropped the stack of papers in a table against the wall before she tried to steal a glance at her captain.

Aizen-taicho was not paying attention to her, much to both her frustration and delight. He was a tall and mild-featured man with scholarly brown hair enhanced by a pair of square glasses over soft brown eyes, he wore a kimono similar to hers, but over it, he also had an impeccable white haori with the symbol of his division emblazoned on his back.

The man sat with his legs crossed over a small comfortable pillow, one of his elbows rested over his low desk while the other held a single sheet of paper. Aizen-taicho had a gentle smile on his lips as he read.

Hinamori found herself unable to blink or look away.

"Is there something wrong?" Aizen-taicho asked without stopping to read, Hinamori flinched as if she had been awakened from a daydream, she cleared her throat, invested her efforts into her most beautiful smile, and took a step forward.

"No, nothing wrong, Aizen-taicho. I'm just happy to see you doing well." she bent her body forward with her hands behind her back to try and hide her embarrassment of being found out ogling him.

But her captain didn't react as if he had noticed; instead, he chuckled as he finally glanced away from the paper and toward her, "I'm sorry for worrying you again, I'm thankful."

"If you have too much work," Hinamori began, she bit her lips as she tried not to overthink and get her words out of her tongue, "I could help with some of your work? I already finished signing everything I had to do, for now. You don't have to overwork yourself, Aizen-taicho."

Aizen went back to reading the paper as he chuckled. "I don't know what did I do to deserve such a hardworking and gentle lieutenant…" Hinamori felt the heat blaze inside her skin again but controlled herself and listened as he kept talking. "But I must say the same to you, don't overwork yourself for my sake, I'm not that old, I can still sign some papers on my own."

Hinamori panicked and raised her hands ahead of her face. "Oh! No, no, I didn't mean to say you are old or anything, Aizen-taicho! I just, uh, I just want to help… I guess." She wasn't sure what else to say and couldn't control her face from pouting; she pressed the tips of her index fingers against each other awkwardly.

"Then sit with me, I will finish reading this, and then I will work, your company would help me greatly," Aizen said, and Hinamori smiled as she jumped into the nearest sitting pillow, giddy with the idea of remaining close to her Aizen-taicho.

She glanced around his office, like always it was clean and everything was in its place, only the massive pile of documents she had brought adding some semblance of chaos into the office. There was a floral scent radiating all around, but Hinamori couldn't find any apparent cause of it.

"What are you reading, Taicho?" she asked before the thought that maybe it could be above her paygrade came crashing into her mind, "I'm sorry! you don't need to tell me."

Aizen glanced at her with a calming grin, his soft eyes making butterflies flutter inside her belly. "There is nothing for you to worry about. This one is just a personal letter."

Curiosity made Hinamori's eyes glint like the reflection of the sun against one of the barrack's fish ponds. She was always ready to learn more about the private life of her adored captain, but she was to shy to even voice her thoughts.

Thankfully for her, Aizen seemed more than happy to share.

"It seems somebody has taken an interest in the wellbeing of someone dear to me," he explained, and Hinamori gasped.

"Someone dear to you, taicho? Are they in danger? Is there anything I can do to help?"

Aizen raised one eyebrow before he smiled again at her, "Ah, sorry I didn't mean it to sound that way. There is nothing to worry about, just curious about how things will change."

"Oh, I see," Hinamori said, getting more comfortable in her seat as she glanced towards the window; a pair of tiny little birds flew outside, she wondered what their name was.

"Uhm," Aizen voice caught Hinamori's attention again as he said, "Sorry to bother you more, Hinamori-kun, but I just noticed I forgot my tea kit, could you retrieve it for me, it is in the same place as always."

Hinamori jumped out of her seat. "Right away, Aizen-taicho!" she ran out of the door fast enough to leave a trail of dust as she left barely closing the door in her wake.

Aizen sighed, if the letter was correct, one of his two subjects might have been tampered with; the girl had been the most promising of the two… such a waste.

He shrugged internally, not showing any actual movement as he pondered over the situation.

He looked outside his window, watching as two disgusting birds made circles in the air just outside it, one of them landed at the rim of the window, watching inside as if it was looking directly at him.

Oh well.

He still had the boy.

* * *

**Oh dear, this chapter marks the end of what I like to call: Ichika's honeymoon.**

** Many revelations have come to the forefront, but for every one of them now we got more questions too! Plans are set. Some have changed, and Ichika has finally realized she ain't in Kansas anymore! **

**At least nobody died, so happy ending… right?**

**This chapter showcases that other significant change in the canon that I announced in a previous episode, the shadow realm. In canon we don't know much of it, other than it exists in the shadows of the Seireitei. Lichtreich is also another location which in canon seems to be located in the real world, but we get no explanation of it other than that it existed a thousand years ago. **

**I have decided to fuse these two places into a new realm, a continental western Europe kind of place that has been frozen in time for the Quincy to live in. We will explore this place in the future. **

**Fun fact: originally, Momo was going only to appear as a background character in this chapter, with not even a single line of dialog. The reviews talking about her made me want to hold onto her in this episode for a little bit more. **

**Last week's question: Which character of Bleach do you think didn't live up to their potential in the canon? Who would you have liked to see more off?**

**For me the character that didn't live up at all to his potential has to be Yhwach, he was the big baddie of Bleach, but the last ark was so rushed. He was introduced without any foreshadowing and given to many godlike powers to be taken seriously. **

**One character I wish we could have seen more was Isshin; he had all the makings to be one of the most interesting characters and a mentor for Ichigo! Yet he barely did anything the whole series… **

**Question of the Week: if you were an Arrancar, which of the Espada would you like to become a Fracción of and why?**

**Remember to review at least a few words! it makes me feel so much better to read what you guys like (or dislike) about my work. **


	7. S1: I Guess I'm Human Afterall

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence.**

**Hello guys! REstart: Bleach is over a hundred follows and is just like… wow, When I began writing this I honestly never expected to have more than ten follows, seeing this many people enjoying my work is very humbling. I'm so thankful to you all for taking the chance with my work and using up your valuable time to read what I write. I hope you keep on enjoying this story as much as I love writing it. **

**As always, I do not own Bleach! **

* * *

**Season 1: Welcome Home**

**Episode 7: I Guess I'm Just Human Afterall**

**Japan – Karakura Town – Karakura Hospital**

The mild winds of early winter kissed the rooftops of the houses and buildings, leaving a crust of whiteness that reminded me of the top of frosted cakes, the sun still warmed up the sidewalk enough for it to be clean of snow. A couple of shy clouds walked over the sky here and there, but the weather channel had not predicted anything to happen today.

The front doors of the hospital slid open by themselves with a little welcoming tune that had become a dear friend of mine already; I blew away a warm breath of air as the chilly winds remained behind me and a breeze of hot air welcomed me inside the hospital's lobby.

I grasped the edges of my Junior High's skirt and pressed it down; there was a line of mirrors on both sides of the entrance, and I walked over to one of them.

My long dark hair fell down my back up to my waist; I brushed some of my hair away from my eyes, I took my beloved cap out of my head just for a moment to push the rebellious hair to its place before I put it back on.

I held my brown square school-bag tightly and nodded to myself before I went back on my path toward the front desk.

A young nurse with light brown hair was there, she smiled as she saw me and I returned it with a wave.

"Hello, Amamiya-san," I said for a greeting as I went to the side of the front desk and grasped for the visitation list and the corded pen that was always next to it.

"Is always lovely to see you, Kurosaki-chan, how was your day at school?" the nurse asked me while I searched for room number four-twenty. I was always a somewhat annoying task as they reprinted the list daily with only the occupied rooms, so it was never in the same place.

"Everything fine like always," I responded and then said quietly, "aha," to myself when I found the room in the list, I signed my name right next to it and put the clipboard and the pen back in their places.

"I'm sure she will be happy to see you again today," the nurse said with a friendly expression, and I had to force my face from recoiling at her comment.

"Thank you," I breathed the words out quickly and walked as fast as I could without running toward the stairs, ignoring the elevator next to them. I instead took the steps two by two, enjoying the feeling of my muscles warming and my lungs working.

I pulled the sleeve of my school's blue cardigan to check the hour on my watch and cursed silently; I had come late today because I decided to try and search for that idiot, but I wasn't going to scour the whole town to do it.

If he didn't want to come, that was his problem.

I reached the fourth floor and went on my way; this corridors had become quite familiar to me, a male nurse walked next to me, and I greeted him with a nod before I turned right in an intersection and after I saw the way was empty, I grinned and ran the rest of the way.

I stopped at the room four-twenty.

My hand went to take the handle of the door… I hesitated.

It didn't matter how many times I came; I still did it.

I gulped saliva, bit my cheek, then I took a breath and closed my eyes before I pressed my hand against the door and opened it.

"Hi, mom, I'm back," I said as I walked into a nightmare.

The peeping of a breathing machine said welcome back for me; I heard it suction air while another one chimed every few seconds with a heartbeat.

Mom rested in a bed that was a little too big for her; it was in the center of the room propped against a wall, various machines surrounded it while an IV bag hanged on the side of the bed and fed dinner to my mom.

There was a simple metal chair next to the bed, my dearest friend.

I walked up to the chair, dropping my bag next to it before I sat,

I looked at my knees, but I got tired and took my hat off of my head and placed it there, instead I stared at the emblazoned cross on its front, tracing the symbol with my thumb.

I took a deep breath and glanced over my mom.

"Mom, today, well, I think I made a new friend…" I said while my eyes rested on mom's face, if it weren't for the breathing mask she would have looked like she was having a good night sleep, I smiled awkwardly, but I couldn't look at her anymore.

My eyes went down back to my cap as I clenched it between my fingers and kept on telling my tale, "her name is Orihime, well she isn't really my friend per se, is more like, Tatsuki found her getting bullied by some stupid girls in the bathroom and decided to get into a fight with them, I was outside waiting for her and when I heard the commotion, well I kinda got involve." I chuckled and scratched my head, almost hoping that she would wake up to yell at me and ground me.

"Dad is going to be hearing about it soon probably," I continued talking, "although I wish you were here to get him back into shape, he is probably just going to ask me how many teeth I pulled out of those stupid girls, which by the way it was none, I only really kicked their leader in the head once and they ran away. Tatsuki is gonna be in way more trouble than me since she beat the life out of two of them."

I glanced at mom; she still slept.

I sighed.

I slid a little in the chair, looking up to the window at the end of the room that led up to nothing but the sky.

The clouds had disappeared, and the horizon was beginning to turn orange.

"Am I a monster?" I asked the window, knowing nobody here would answer me anyway, but still needing to get it out of my head, "I wonder, mom, if you could talk, would you tell me to plug you out? Would you feel better if we decided to end it and let you go? I don't think I could…"

I had asked those same questions daily; I didn't know why; I was terrified of getting an answer for any of them.

"I should probably go already, but guess what, mom?" I leaned closer to the bed, I didn't look, but I blindly searched for her hand with mines, grasping it delicately like it was made of porcelain, it certainly was just as cold.

"Today I turn thirteen," I said with a fake smile. "I'm almost there, is kinda hard to believe it." I sighed, clenching her cold hard a little harder. "Though I really need to go, I don't want Yuzu to try and bake the cake alone, and dad would burn it as he did with Yuzu and Karin's, you probably still remember about that whole fiasco don't you, mom?"

Something bit my eyes, I grumbled and rubbed my sleeve against them. I was way too old already to still be crying every day I came here. I freed mom's hand from my grasp and tugged it inside the sheets before I dared take another glance to her face.

She looked so peaceful.

"Don't worry, mom, I will be back here tomorrow like always, I will try to be earlier, and maybe the idiot will finally show up… maybe if I bash his head a little more," I said before sighing knowing how worthless my words were.

I felt disgusted with myself, knowing that I said those things more for myself than I did for her, I couldn't look at her anymore. I grabbed my back and left the room without a second glance; I only stayed long enough outside to make sure I closed the door as silently as possible before I bolted.

I thankfully avoided seeing anyone in my way out, nobody came across me in the corridors, and there wasn't a soul at the front desk as I left the hospital. Although I had all the ingredients for the simple vanilla cake I planned to do at home, that still left dinner up in the air, so I went to the grocery store on the way to my house.

Sometimes I wondered if it would have been better if dad had gone through his idea of remodeling one of the patience room in our small clinic so we could keep mom close. But just as quickly as the thought came to my mind it would disappear, not only would that had been much more costly, but even if we had all the equipment, we couldn't staff it.

The Kurosaki clinic was small and only officially operated by dad even though I got into a nurse uniform and helped at the weekends as well.

Mom needed much more care and attention than what we could provide. The only sacrifice I had to do now to visit her was to take the long daily walk from school to the hospital after classes.

As I searched the aisles of the store, I first thought about doing a healthy dinner, tofu, some chicken maybe… but today was a special day; it was our birthday.

I sighed as I went to the meat section and grabbed some fatty beef of the expensive kind, then I went for some vegetables and spices, and then I took a step into the lair of my worse enemy.

The curry aisle.

There was nothing I hated more than curry, but the idiot loved it, I grimaced but held up to my disgust as I browsed the place for the box of instant curry I knew he liked the most. When I found it, I grabbed one of the extra spicy kind as he would like and then a milder one for the rest of us, even dad couldn't eat the extra spicy curry so I could have to do double the work to make two batches of the stuff.

I paid for the food, crying internally at the big price tag. We weren't poor, not even close, but as the one that had to hold onto our finances since our dad was a total idiot, every wasted yen was a painful sacrifice.

I wasn't stingy.

That word wasn't allowed.

It didn't take me long to reach home; I opened the door and shouted, "I'm home!" I dropped the groceries on the floor for a moment while I leaned down to take off my shoes and put them neatly in their spot at the entrance, I took hold of the bag and walked in the house with a bright smile.

"Welcome back, Onee-chan!" said a barreling little bullet of brown hair as she jumped in my arms.

"Woah!" I gasped in surprise as I twirled around with a laughing, tiny little Yuzu clinging to me like a happy puppy, I joined in her giggles as we stopped and I somehow managed to dislodge her from me. "I guess someone is excited today."

Yuzu got away from me and clenched her fist against her chest; pure determination filled up her expression as she said, "we will bake a cake."

I chuckled; she probably meant that as a question, but it had not sounded like one at all, "yep, where are the others, by the way?"

"Here, Ichi-nee!" shouted another young voice, Karin was sprawled over the sofa with a magazine hiding her face from me, she waved her hand at me, and although I knew she wouldn't be able to see it, I still waved back at her.

Yuzu followed me into the kitchen, and she began taking out the things we would need for the cake out of their places. "Dad is taking a bath, and well…" she trailed off as she waved a spatula around while a finger of her other hand scratched her chin.

I sighed very loudly, and Yuzu grimaced at my action, I couldn't stop a frown from forming in my eyes, but I didn't let me stop me, I kept on putting the groceries in the fridge while I said, "He is probably going to stay out until the last minute like he always does."

"I'm sorry…" Yuzu whispered, she probably didn't mean for me to hear her, but I did anyway.

"It ain't your fault, is mine," I said. I finished my work and instead grabbed a pink bowl and began preparing the cake. I forced my lips to make the biggest smile I could muster as I held up the bag of flour in one hand and my blue apron in the other. "So, chocolate frosting or vanilla?"

"Chocolate." Demanded Karin from the sofa.

"No, the cake is vanilla, so the frosting should be vanilla too!" exclaimed Yuzu, which made Karin finally let her magazine down and raise her upper body from the sofa so that she could show her judging eyes directly at her twin sister.

"That doesn't make any sense," Karin stated, and Yuzu only responded by sticking her tongue out at her.

I laughed as they kept fighting over the frosting flavor only for the discussion to become even more chaotic and heated as dad ran down the stairs with only a towel to exclaim that he wanted strawberry frosting and promptly received a double kick in the face courtesy of Karin.

My family indeed was a blessing.

If only we could all be here…

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

I held the air inside my lungs as I heard his footsteps down the corridor, I had my ear plastered against the door of my now single bedroom, the door at the other side of the hallway opened with its hinges screaming in pain like a kicked dog, then came the sound of them closing with a bash and I couldn't stop myself from sighing.

I hoped he would like the slice of cake I left on his desk.

I missed the days where we would have stayed in the same room, which now was only his. Mine although it had mostly the same form, it was slightly larger.

Way too big and lonely.

But I didn't have the time to stay here and wait and see if he would want to talk, I had something more important to do tonight.

I had changed out of my school uniform and was wearing cargo pants and a sleeveless shirt; I took out of my closed my sweater, and then I kneeled next to my bed.

Although I wasn't an idiot, I knew I wasn't a genius either; a brilliant mind would have had figured out a way to get something better than what I had, maybe a shotgun or even a small arm like a pistol which would have been a safer option to mine.

Still, I smiled as I picked my wooden bat. I had hammered into it quite a lot of nails, some of then even rusted to add more punch to it. I was confident I could kill anyone in one good hit with it.

Now the question was if it would work against who I planned to smash it in.

I packed my bat into an old, long bag meant to hold kendo swords that I had bought used from a classmate. Then I opened the window; I pulled myself outside until I was hanging from the edge with only my hands before I let go, I fell into the bush below having to close my eyes and clench my teeth to stop myself from yelping.

I wish jumping down to bushes was like in the movies where the scrubs were practically comfy and safe beds to fall to, the truth was that they were filled with thorny branches that bit into my butt harshly, but I was already familiarized to it with how many times I had done this.

I didn't go out every night like this; I probably should have.

I walked around the house until I reached the road, and then after giving it one last glance, I kept on my way.

The river's water was as calm as ever.

I stood on the shore, staring at the dark waters as if they would give me some answer. Sometimes it was even hard to believe what had happened in this exact spot.

It was a lonely night, something I was thankful for; my only company was a pair of trees, the starless sky, and the moon far on the horizon. I pulled the kendo bag out of my shoulder and processed to take my bat out of it, then as I held it, I rested it on my shoulder and began my nightly routine.

Walking along the shore, staring at the river, was sort of calming. The sounds of the waves lapping the ground, the chilly wind dancing overhead, it almost made me think that it would be just another night of worthless patrolling.

I didn't expect anything anyway; I was just too stubborn to stop doing it.

I frowned as the breeze wailed on my ears, it was a cold night, but there wasn't much wind coming through, at least not enough for it to sound so strongly.

My eyes bulged.

Lungs filled with freezing air.

A child's scream bled into the storm in my ears.

I ran.

I didn't know where the sound had come from; I ran up the hill to get a better view from the sidewalk just to come crashing into a scene straight from my memories, right there close to the children's park was the ghost of a boy that could not have been older than my younger sisters.

He was running on my direction from the side of the wooden castle, but he had his face looking behind.

"Hey!" I shouted and waved my free hand at him to try and gain his attention, he saw me and changed his path slightly to match mine, I was about to ask him what was he running from when suddenly…

The wooden castle exploded.

"Shit!" I cursed while I covered my face and felt the aftershock push me backward, I barely managed not to fall to the ground before pieces of broken wood began falling down the sky around me.

I crouched in place and covered my head with the bat, I felt something small smash painfully against my shoulder, but thankfully nothing else hit me, I uncovered my head and stood when I saw the ghost had fallen to the ground.

"Hey, are you okay!?" I ran up to him, ignoring the giant cloud of dust and dirt that had taken residence where the playground's castle had once stood, we were close to it, but I was more worried about the kid's safety first.

He may have already been dead, but I knew ghosts could still feel all sorts of things, including pain.

I kneeled beside him; he was hiding his face with his hands as he cried.

"Can you hear me?" I asked him and received no response other than sobs, I went to pull his arms away to check on his face, but something sparkled at the edge of my vision.

I felt fear grasping onto my heart before I realized what was going on, my muscles moved by themselves, and I threw myself to the ground an instant before a massive scythe-like thing soared above me.

Golden yellow eyes stared right at my soul from the deeps of the dust cloud, I gulped.

The air sang as something began to move in the cloud, cutting up the world as it fell above us like a guillotine, a giant greenish insect arm that ended on a dark scythe came down.

I only had enough time to roll to the side and avoid it as it impaled the land; the ghost boy had thankfully not been the target of the attack and was still safe, but he was on the other side of the scythe, and I couldn't reach him.

"Run!" I shouted at him and then cursed as I saw that he only stayed there, getting himself into a fetal position. I tried to stand quickly while the monster was fighting to pull its arm out of the earth.

I was right next to it, an idea burned in my mind, and I took the chance.

With one hand still on the ground, I rose the other far behind my head with the bat in tow and went on the attack.

My weapon flew with a vengeance toward the beast's arm, smashing against the back of its blade, the thing didn't budge, but as I moved the bat, I saw the nails scratch the monster and leave tiny little trails of blood.

Then it howled.

My blood froze, my muscles clenched, I felt fire intoxicate my lungs as I remembered that very sound, the sound of scraping metal of long ago.

I wasted too much time.

The thing's arm got freed from the ground, and it quickly came to me with the broad side of its blade, smashing right into me and blowing me away. I fell meters away, rolling on the dirt and feeling the rocks of the playground's dirt bite into my clothes. My hat had flown another direction, and my hair trashed widely around me.

It hurt, but nothing was broken, I punched the dirt and stood as fast as I could only to regret it.

I felt my grip over the bat loosen; nausea had taken control of my guts while my ears were forced to hear the crunch that my eyes were hoping to be dreaming instead of genuinely watching.

The monster had finally revealed itself; it had the form of a praying mantis with a large oblong white mask as its face and a perfectly circular hole running through its abdomen. Its long neck was bent downwards, blood covering most of its front.

A child's arm was sticking out of its mouth.

"You are just like the other one…" I whispered.

My body was shaking like a leaf in the wind, my muscles wouldn't budge, and my bat fell to the ground with a deafening thump. The beast kept on feasting; it finally swallowed the last remaining arm of what had once been an innocent ghost.

Its golden eyes turned toward me.

Fear was a double edge sword, as it had been fear that had paralyzed me before, fear now injected my veins with adrenaline, but it wasn't alone.

Rage burned up my sanity; hatred filled my lungs with newfound air. I bent and took my bat from the ground as the thing stared at me in wonder without moving.

This wasn't the thing that had hurt mom, but it was undoubtedly one of the same species.

"You still hungry?" I asked the beast as a wild smile took over my lips, "do you want another bite, you fucker? Bite me then, bitch."

I turned and ran toward the river.

The earth shook as the beast's legs trampled the ground as it chased me, I jumped over the small fence of the park, but the monster instead smashed right through it without a care.

The beast was right behind me as I threw myself down the hill, letting gravity help me as I slid down the grass, dirt, and dirty snow. The monster came barreling down.

It lost its footing and rolled through the hill like a giant ball of death that I barely managed to dodge at the last second.

The beast was on the ground; I rose my bat and smashed it against one of its legs managing only to scratch him again with the rusted nails.

I cursed, and the beast howled in rage, I turned and ran toward the trees. I wasn't going to wait for it to get back up.

I heard it trashing behind me while it followed me, the ground broke apart under the weight of its pincer-like legs, the scythe arms wildly trashing and gnawing the land. I ran through the middle of the two trees and turned.

This would be the place of my last stand.

These trees would mark the place where either the beast or I would die; fire burst inside me, a mad smile hanged on my mouth, everything became slow.

War boiled in my blood, rage sang in my heart. Death bet his prizes over us!

Both of its scythes rose to meet me, its mask-like face screeched and charged, its body coming closer, closer.

Closer.

The blades met the wood of the trees, slicing them halfway before the trunks ate them, the beast howled as its arms got stuck further into the trees, its face fell, and I jumped back to avoid its bite.

The beast had failed.

"Die already!" I shouted and sweep my bat at its face, smashing right on it, the sound of cracking blasted in my ears as the air around the bat exploded, I could have sworn the bat shined with blue light as the creature's face gave way to the rusted nails and part of it flew in torn pieces.

I went for the second strike, moving to take my bat with both hands and rising it over my head when the beast charged forward and the trees holding it in place shattered.

I had no time to dodge.

Its teeth came at me.

Agony scorched my shoulder, I screamed, the beast rampaged with me on its maw and its head low. Mud, dirt, and rocks grasped for my back, tearing it apart, and my voice broke with my screaming matching those of the monster.

The creature stopped, leaving me halfway dug inside the ground as it spat me and rose its head away from me, cold sweep into my body, blood gushed behind me, and mixes with the dirt.

Too much blood.

I was bleeding out.

My vision was starting to get dark on the edges; my legs didn't respond when I tried to move them, I coughed when I went to speak, my left arm wouldn't budge.

I clenched my right hand around my bat, my arm was in pain, but it still screamed in rage for more, it wasn't done with this, it wouldn't surrender, it wouldn't give up.

The creature thought the war was over, it loomed over me slowly, its scythes calmly landing at my sides and resting with their tips on the ground while its face moved closer and closer.

I felt its disgusting breath warm me.

Its maw opened.

The war wasn't over yet, fucker.

I blasted my arm up, bat first into its maw, impaling the beast with the nails as deep into its throat as my hand could reach, the creature shrieked in agony, and then I saw from the edge of my eyes one of its scythes swam through the ground towards me.

The broad section of it crashed against my broken body, and I tore through the air like a broken doll before I collapsed on the edge of the hill. The creature was trashing as it tried to dislodge my bat from its maws without succeeding.

I had fallen on my chest, I thought of it as a little blessing not to have my injured back against the dirt, but I couldn't move, only my right arm still obeyed my orders and blood was dripping down my head and blinding one of my eyes.

Adrenaline was probably the only thing still keeping me alive, or perhaps I was just too stupid to die yet.

I was going to die again…

I couldn't hold my face up anymore; it landed in the mud. I was sad.

I couldn't care anymore; I ignored the trashing beast as I thought.

This second life had not lasted as much as my first, but it had been so much longer anyway. I had indeed lived; I had been happy, sad. I had loved and being loved.

I'm sorry, mom, I never got to avenge you.

I'm sorry, dad, I hope you can keep up with the workload even if I am not around to help.

I'm sorry, Yuzu, I wanted to teach you more recipes, it was so fun while it lasted.

I hope you don't cry, Karin, you have always been the prettiest girl I had known when you smiled at me.

Ichigo…

I will miss you.

The beast spat my bat away, then used one of its scythes to blow it away into the blind spot of my vision, I didn't even hear when it landed. The thing came towards me, looming with its shadow hiding the moonlight above us.

I closed the only eye I still had open, I wondered how much it would hurt, how long it would take me actually to die.

Would it eat me alive pieces by piece? Would it end me first and cut me apart with its scythes? I didn't know, the fear of not knowing gnawed at what was left of my sanity, and I whimpered like an infant.

The breeze flew; I felt it almost if I could see the creature raise one of its scythes, its body making cracking noises as it rose its arm.

At least it would be quick.

But I didn't want to die.

Mommy, I didn't want to die.

I was so scared; I didn't want to die.

Dad save me, please.

Ichigo!

The wind was sliced in half; the scythe fell like a guillotine with my head as its target, death reached up to me with greedy hands and the maniacal laugh of the insane, I clenched my teeth and cried.

A booming explosion blasted above me, wind ran away from me and swept my hair away, I opened my eyes even with the blood that sweep into one as confusion and surprise injected another dose of life into my beating heart.

Messy blonde hair and bright crimson eyes were almost hidden under the hood of a white loose trench coat with a high collar that hid his chin but not his mouth.

Above me stood a boy.

His hands were on the pockets of his coat; he was leaning towards me, staring back at me.

The beast's scythe rested on his shoulder, its tip not even puncturing the boy's clothes, he didn't even seem to notice the monster looming over us, the beast's blade trembled as it put more effort into cutting the unbreakable.

The blonde boy smiled, just an upward bend of the edges of his lips, then he said with a calm and smooth voice like honey, "You are just like I imagined."

And I died.


	8. S1: To Live The Myth

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence.**

**Hello again!**

**I hope you guys liked the last chapter! I'm sorry for the ending, but I wanted to experiment with that kind of finale hehe. I would love it if you guys tell me your opinion of it in a review.**

**I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving, I honestly thought that I would have more time to write this week since it was holidays here but nope! Quite the contrary, actually, nevertheless Episode 8 is here!**

**I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it.**

**And as always, I do not own Bleach!**

* * *

**Season 1: Welcome Home**

**Episode 8: To live The Myth**

**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

Death's scythe was crashing down on me.

Pain erupted in my back, blood dripping, my legs wouldn't move.

Golden eyes hungrily staring back at me from the dark, a child's severed arm falling from the darkness' maws.

It came at me; the darkness swallowed me, a white mask with teeth.

Then crimson eyes replaced it; messy blonde hair surrounded them, a voice spoke, "You are just like I imagined."

Then I died.

And I opened my eyes to utter darkness, I was enveloped in something, fear pumped adrenaline inside me, and I trashed wildly feeling the sheets unravel as I tilted to the side and I fell off my bed face-first into the wooden floor of my room.

I breathed every gulp of air as if it was my last, searching the shadows of my room for the praying mantis-like monster or the blonde kid.

I was alone.

"Was it all…" I wondered out loud, expecting my voice to come out croaky or harshly, but instead, it was just my regular voice. "Was it a dream?" I asked nobody.

A sudden ringing noise made my bones jump out of my body; I glanced at my desk in fright only to find my alarm clock marking six in the morning as it blared it sound in the rage of being ignored. I stood from the floor on shaky legs, holding onto my sheet by the fistful like an anchor in case I fell into that nightmare again.

I went and pressed the button of the clock, fascinated with it for a moment before an ache in my arm reminded me of the injuries I had in the nightmare.

I dropped the sheets, noticing how I was wearing my white pajamas like usual, I pulled up my shirt and gingerly went to touch my back with the tip of my fingers only to find it okay.

I pressed further, and it hurt a little, a small pain like those when I used to overwork myself in the track-and-field club's activities when I was part of it last year, my arms ached as well, and I felt my legs a little numb.

But no matter where I looked at, I was fine, no injuries, no bruises or even a scratch marring my skin.

"It really was a dream," I guessed out loud before correcting myself, "more like a nightmare." I chuckled, then a yawn overpowered me, and I stretched my arms far and wide, enjoying the feeling of my bones popping.

I flinched when my stomach grumbled; then, I laughed at how silly it was before I tapped my stomach with the palm of my hand like a drum.

God, I was so hungry.

I guessed that meant that today we were going to eat a Japanese style breakfast, western breakfast was easier, faster and sometimes even comfortable to my heart as it reminded me of my previous life on those scarce occasion when I wanted to do so, but nothing beat an excellent traditional Japanese breakfast when it came to going out to school with a full belly.

First off though, I had to get dressed, today was Friday if my clock was to be believed, I went to the closed and pulled out a fresh uniform which consisted of a blue skirt with a white sailor fuku and a blue cardigan to hide from the chilly weather. I frowned when I went to get my hat and couldn't find it anywhere.

I searched the place up and down; then, I went to the bathroom, searched there too, and left after doing my morning rituals of toothbrushing, hair brushing, and a quick face wash.

I couldn't figure out where I left my hat, and that soured the morning a little; I went downstairs and went onto prepare the food. I thanked God that I had been interested in learning how to cook healthy eating since I started my new life, mom had always been the one in charge of the food around here, since dad's only culinary skill was knowing how to operate the microwave.

Someone else has had to step into the role.

I put on my apron and started to work.

I set the rice cooker, put the fillets of sardines under the built-in broiler and prepared the pot of instant miso soup, by the time I was setting the table, Yuzu came running downstairs with one of her cheerful smiles decorating her face.

"Good morning, Onee-chan!" she said as she came into the kitchen.

"Morning, Yuzu." I pointed to the pot of miso; she understood right away and went to grab a ladle to begin serving. I enjoyed that she wanted to help more in the kitchen and the house, but since she was only nine, I didn't want her to deal with any of the more dangerous things like, well, actual cooking.

She did an excellent job as a waitress, so I was probably going to try and keep her doing that a little longer before I let her start cooking under my supervision.

I wasn't overprotective.

A shadow dragged herself down the stairs minutes later, and I had to bite my lips to avoid chuckling at Karin's expression, although we shared the same hair color, Karin had hers way shorter, reaching just a bit below her ears.

The most significant difference between us other than age was her eyes; they were just like dads.

Well, there was also the big difference between them that dad always looked like a child on a sugar rush while Karin mostly acted like an older man that had missed his morning coffee.

"Morning, Karin," I said with a smile on my tone before I finished setting her plate first, putting her sardine fillet with my chopsticks.

"Morning, Ichi-nee," she grumbled and slipped into her seat as if she needed the chair to stop her bones from melting down the floor.

I chuckled; she wasn't much of a morning person.

Then chaos came.

A hurricane of epic proportions flew down the stairs; he wore a white lab coat that did nothing to make him look professional while he also had that orange Hawaiian shirt badly tugged on his trousers, unshaved morning beard, and…

"Dad, why are you wearing a belt around your forehead?" I asked, confused as he smirked at me, and pointed at the oddity proudly.

"Don't you see? I'm showing that I am just as cool as you, youngers! I know all the cool kids wear belts this way, nobody is ever going to call Kurosaki Isshin a boring doctor! I tell ya!"

I felt a vein bulge in my forehead as he kept making ridiculous poses just beyond his seat at the front of the table rather than sitting, I was just thankful my school wasn't one of those that had the parents visit the schools for random reasons or I was confident he would destroy my reputation.

I did my best to ignore him, and if he noticed that I dropped his food on his plate a bit harsher than regular, he didn't comment and just kept posing.

Karin got up her seat and walked towards him.

"What, Karin-chan? Have you been smitten by your amazing father's awesomeness that you require that I hug you?" he asked as he pointed as his chest with both of his thumbs "I would gladly offer you my embrace, my beautiful flo– eught!"

I glanced towards him and discovered Karin had pushed the belt down around his neck and was strangling him with it; she was hanging from the belt holding onto it while her feet were propped on his chest. Yuzu was next to them trying to solve the situation while I just ignored it altogether and served the last plate of food.

I knew the last member of our family wouldn't come and eat until I had left, I wrapped his on plastic and put it in the microwave before I sat in my seat and began to eat, totally unaware of the chaos still going on around me.

Japan – Karakura Town – Mashiba Junior High

"Oh, I had forgotten how the top of your head looked like."

I frowned, glancing away from my cooking book in annoyance to look behind me to find Tatsuki waving, she was being followed by a tiny little shadow of a girl, and I felt my irritation level skyrocket.

I turned around and walked to meet them, ignoring Tatsuki and her confused face while I sidestepped around her and bonked the forehead of the girl with short orange hair that reached just above her ears that reminded me so much of my brother's.

"Ouch!" she yelped and jumped to hide from me under the protection of Tatsuki, who just sighed, which only made a vein in my head bulge and a growl escape my lungs.

"Stop hiding, Orihime!" I shouted, and finally, the girl, Orihime Inoue, decided to take her first step away from her shield Tatsuki.

We had only met yesterday, after Tatsuki and I – Thought mostly Tatsuki, I only arrived at the end of it – dealt with some girls that were bullying Orihime in one of the school's bathrooms.

Tatsuki was happy to let the shy girl use her as a shield against the world, but I wanted Orihime to open up, I was probably going the wrong way about it, but it just pissed me off watching the cute girl look so depressed as if she was a cute little puppy abandoned under a bridge. She was way too adorable not to be smiling more often.

So, when I saw Orihime waddle her way back behind Tatsuki, little step by tiny step, I snapped.

I chased her around Tatsuki; we ran in circles with her begging for mercy while I only growled like a rabid dog. The embarrassment of doing this in public helped me calm my annoyance, but I wouldn't stop until I heard Orihime start to laugh at the silliness of the situation.

"Anyway, Ichika, where is your hat? Tatsuki asked after I got what I wanted and stopped. "I haven't seen you without it for ages," Tatsuki added.

I could only shrug and sigh while I scratched the back of my head; it did felt uncomfortable not having my hat; it almost felt like I was going topless or something. "I honestly don't know what I did with it last night; it wasn't in my room. I'm going to check the whole house after I go back from the hospital."

Orihime clasped her hands over her mouth, "Hospital? Are you okay, Kurosaki-san?"

I ignored her question. "I told you yesterday to call me by my name, Orihime, anyway let's go I don't want to be late to class." I walked away without waiting for them.

I heard Tatsuki said, "Is complicated," before they followed me inside the entrance of the school.

Although our town wasn't a large one, Mashiba high was a massive school, made of four concrete floors, and shaped like an "E" we had to go run up three stories to reach our classroom. When I opened the door, I was met with a mostly empty room, we three were always some of the first to get here unless we counted the four-eyed guy that always sat in the front.

I didn't know his name.

I dropped my bag on my desk and then went to sit over Tatsuki's so we could talk, I was quite happy to see Orihime taking the initiative to move her's closer to join the conversation. She didn't speak much as Tatsuki, and I mostly conversed over Tatsuki's karate club upcoming competition against another high school.

But it was nice to see at least her joining us.

The classroom slowly filled up as the start of the class drew near, I saw from the edge of my vision a tall, dark-skinned boy that looked more like a twenty-year-old boxer come into the room, he had to lean his head to get inside.

I held onto my breath, waiting.

He finished coming in and walked to the back of the classroom without bothering anyone.

Nobody followed him.

"He is skipping classes again, ain't he?" Tatsuki said and snapped me back into reality; she was looking at me with that slight scowl that meant that she was worried, I only nodded as a response, not trusting my mouth.

"Who? Oh, Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime finally spoke, and I bit my cheek.

"Yeah," Tatsuki confirmed for her, and then the bell rang.

Everyone began to go to their seats; I jumped onto mine using my bag as a cushion. Not more than ten seconds later, our classroom sensei, an old but amiable man, came into the room, strangely leaving the door open, which was uncommon of him.

"Everyone, please be seated," he said as he walked behind his elevated desk, his walking stick making a clipping sound each time it met the tiles on the floor, he licked his lips and then took a small notebook from one of his pockets and opened it over the desk.

"Ah, today is the last day of the week," sensei started, "but I have a special announcement, you all will have a new classmate starting today," he waved at the door.

Messy blonde hair and crimson eyes were almost hidden under the hood of a white hoodie he wore below the school's blazer, his head was looking downwards to the point that his chin was hidden by his clothes but not his mouth.

Ahead of me stood a boy.

His hands were on the pockets of his blazer; he walked to the front of the classroom and stood next to our sensei.

"Alright." Sensei waved his hand on the blonde kid's direction. "First of all, introduce yourself."

A friendly smile took over the boy's lips with his eyes closing and his head bent a little to the side, "It's nice to meet you, my name is Gremmy Thoumeaux." He opened his eyes and surveyed the room before those red eyes found me.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Mashiba Junior High**

"I wonder where he is from, he doesn't look Japanese at all," Tatsuki said as she bit into her bread roll.

We were sitting under one of the trees in the school's courtyard, Tatsuki and I usually ate our lunch in the classroom, but Orihime had wanted to show us this spot, not like I minded.

The classroom had been filled with people curious with the new guy, even some from other classes, Orihime didn't seem to like being surrounded by a lot of people, me, on the other hand, I didn't want to be anywhere near the blonde boy.

Tatsuki mostly didn't mind either way.

I had a bento box mostly filled with leftovers from yesterday's dinner while Tatsuki was eating one of the bread rolls from the cafeteria, Orihime had yet to open her bento bag, I was waiting for her to get comfortable enough with us that she would do it on her own rather than asking her about it, instead I went to answer Tatsuki's comment.

"Don't know, don't care," I said a little more harshly than I meant to.

The two girls watched me curiously. Tatsuki and I could have probably been called bad influences when it came to Orihime, for example, she preferred to be proper and addressed us by our last names, Tatsuki had always had troubles remembering them, so she only called people by their first names, and I still found the whole thing too confusing even to try. But the conversation changed quite drastically when Orihime finally decided to open her bento box.

First came a bag of pickled vegetables, which was a fairly common thing. Tatsuki raised an eyebrow after a jar of spreadable cheese came next, and I began to panic internally when Orihime pulled a bag of beef jerky.

"What…what are you going to eat?" I asked her in a whisper that was probably too low for her to hear me, I hoped that she had just packed various snacks to last for the whole day rather than what I was thinking the girl was going to do.

Orihime didn't pay attention to my question for a moment as she instead concentrated in trying to open the cheese jar, "Yay!" she shouted when it popped open, and then she glanced at us.

"Something wrong?" Orihime asked with a sweet innocent tone.

"What are you going to do with those," Tatsuki said, pointing with her bread roll.

"Oh!" Orihime smiled with the power of the brightest sunshine as she exclaimed, "beef jerky cheesy pickle sandwiches!"

I felt my stomach take a tumble.

"You… you don't have any bread," I said, and I was already fearing the answer Orihime was going to give us when the orange-haired girl chuckled like we had fallen right into her trap.

"Of course not, because the beef jerky is the bread!"

I wasn't hungry anymore.

"I imagined you would be here, Kurosaki-san." said a boy's voice that was smooth like honey from behind me, both Orihime and I yelped and jumped out of the way while Tatsuki seemed ready to beat someone up.

Instead, we only found the new kid, Gremmy, standing under the cover of the tree we had been sitting next to. Confusion seeped into my mind as I tried to figure out how he had gotten there without either of us three seeing him coming.

Tatsuki casually strolled in front of Orihime and me, but the frown on her eyes was like the one of a lioness protecting her cubs from a hungry hyena. Gremmy didn't seem to notice this as he kept smiling like a little kid.

"I'm Tatsuki Arisawa, by the way, do you know Ichika from somewhere?"

Gremmy nodded, and his words made cold sweat travel down my spine, "We met recently, I imagined she would like to discuss things further in private."

"Private?" Tatsuki asked with a raised eyebrow, she went to say something else, but I quickly grasped her shoulder and she turned towards me.

I tried to come up with an excuse; then I stopped because why did I feel the need for a reason to want to talk to him? The boy creeped me the hell out, flashes of the nightmare I had the previous night bit into my conscience as I stared into those weird crimson eyes.

"Yesterday, you dropped your cap near the Karakura river," he said, and I felt one of my lungs get caught in my throat. "I have it in my bag."

"Thank you!" I forced the words out of my trembling lips; I walked around Tatsuki and towards the school before I glanced at him as if to say for him to follow me.

Gremmy nodded in understanding, but before he followed me, he instead said, "I'm German."

"What?" Tatsuki asked, her defensive position long forgotten.

"You wanted to know where I am from. I'm from Germany," he said and then walked away from the tree, and towards me, he passed beside me without saying anything and kept going forward to the school.

I stood there dumbfounded for a moment; I shook my head and ran to catch him. I made a point to ignore the worried glances my friends threw at me as I left.

I thought Gremmy would lead the way up to our classroom, but instead, we went to the fourth floor in silence, walking through the corridors until we reached a wing of the building where the rooms weren't used for anything other than storage. I didn't know what he planned to do here, all the classrooms in this section were closed and locked with keys, had he stolen them?

I didn't dare voice my concerns out loud, and instead just followed him until he brusquely stopped halfway through a step, backpedaled and opened the nearest door without any issue.

He left the door open.

"I imagine you have quite a lot of questions, Kurosaki-san," came the echo of his voice from inside the darkroom, I gulped and took a step inside staying just beyond the door's portal.

This room was filled with stacked old desks that formed towers that reached the roof; the windows were covered by many of them, leaving the room hidden in the dark with only some rays of light shining through.

Gremmy was nowhere to be found.

I knew in this kind of situation the best option was to turn around and bolt the heck out of here, but I couldn't; traces of memories in my mind left me with questions about last night's dream, I remember his eyes looking down at me from above.

I needed answers.

I went in.

After taking four steps and looking everywhere for any sight of Gremmy, I heard the door shut closed and the clicking of the lock only to find Gremmy there standing right next to it but with his hands still in his pockets.

"What do you want?" I asked him; I cursed myself internally because of the slight tremble in my voice.

"I only want to return your cap to you, as I said before." As he took his left hand out of his pocket, my hat came out with it, I cringed thinking of how beat up it would be after staying in that tiny little pocket, but when Gremmy rose his hand holding my hat by the peak I found that it was in an even better state than ever.

I knew my hat, I had worn it for years, I had always kept it safe as my most precious possession, but the wear of the years had still taken a toll on it, this hat looked brand new.

The only proof that this was still my had was the tiny little triangular hole missing on the peak.

I grasped it and took it away as fast as possible from his hands; I put my hat in its rightfully place over my head, and then I walked back to where I had been before to keep some distance between us, he didn't seem bothered by it as he kept his innocent smile.

"On the other hand," he said, "I imagine you have much to ask from me. I'm happy to see you recovered well from last night."

"Last… night?" I asked, and then it hit me.

Memories flashed through my eyes like the shorts of broken movies.

The monster in the river.

The ghost.

The fight.

My bat in its maw.

Messy blonde hair…

Gremmy.

"You…" I said, spitting the words with what air was left in my lungs. "You were there last night."

His smile grew.

"I must say, you surprised me, Kurosaki-san, I imagined you would be a courageous person but to take on a Hollow with nothing but a piece of wood strikes me as a little too… unimaginative," he said as he walked away from the door and into the forest of stacked desks.

He walked around one and disappeared from my vision, I felt offended in the name of my bat at it being called just a piece of wood, but there were more pressing matters to fulfill than to protect my weapon's honor. I asked instead,

"Hollow? is that the name of that monster?"

"Indeed, that was a Hollow." He said, his voice echoing throughout the classroom, making it sound as if it had come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

"You know what they are? Tell me, what is a Hollow." I demanded, he chuckled in the darkness, and I searched in the shadows of the looming trees of desks for any sign of him.

"They? I understand now that this is not the first time you have seen one then, am I correct?" his voice said, before he continued in a heartbeat later, "no matter. Hollows are corrupted Pluses who lost their hearts to despair or regret, or they just remained in the human world for too long, they lose their humanity and become mere beasts trying to eat other souls."

"Pluses?" I asked.

He quickly responded, "consider that the official term for the souls of the dead."

"Who are you, Gremmy?" I asked him, and I heard more than saw his smile as he responded.

"Me? I'm just like you, Kurosaki-san, nothing more and nothing less."

"Don't mock me," I shouted, "I remember that Hollow couldn't even cut you, no human could have survived that."

"Yet we both did, Kurosaki-san…" he said from somewhere in the dark, I was almost sure he was near the windows, but then I felt the touch of his hand on my shoulder and flinched when I found him standing just behind me. "but you are right too, no mere humans could have done it, but you and I are not simply humans, Kurosaki-san"

"What?"

He took a step away from me, standing just beside the board as if he was to give me a class, the hand that was out of its pocket extended to his side. "I believe showing you will be easier."

Blue light emitted from his hand, the sound of a microwave made my heart catch fire as blue aethereal-like feathers flew from all around us into his palm before a bow of pure energy materialized under his fingers.

"I'm a Quincy, Kurosaki-san… Just. Like. You."

I couldn't stand near it, memories from the attack years ago flowed into my eyes like blood hemorrhaging from a wound, I walked away from him.

I had to stop when I hit one of the piles of desks with my back, and I had to hold onto it with a hand to stop my shivering legs from giving up and making me fall. I kept whispering the words "impossible" and "mom," like a mantra as the realization hit me straight to the face.

"I imagine you would like an explanation," Gremmy said; the light his bow emanated caressed his face leaving shadows that morphed it into something almost sinister as he kept on smiling.

The ringing of the bell broke apart the spell that kept me in this world of insanity and brought me back to reality.

The bow disappeared from his hand with its energies dispersing back into blue feathers that then turned into nothingness as they flew away, he tugged his hand back into his pocket and shuffled it around as if he was rummaging through it before he pulled out a folded piece of paper.

"Go to this address after class if you wish to know more," he said and walked out of the room, leaving me just with one last glance of his friendly smile before he disappeared beyond the door.

I stayed there, holding onto the piece of paper like I had just witnessed a murder.

I probably did.

Japan – Karakura Town – Mashiba Junior High

When classes ended, I found myself with apprehension holding onto my bones.

Both of my friends had club activities unlike me, which left me standing alone through the waves of students leaving the front gates of the school. I even saw the idiot's friend; the tall, dark-skinned guy go out alone as if he was unbothered by the world,

I never saw Gremmy leave; after the last class ended, he disappeared from the classroom as if he had never been there, to begin with.

I held onto the paper he had given me, I had thought he had given me a map, I was too worried and honestly, scared to even open it in class and now that I did I was surprised to find it wasn't a map but a set of instructions of where to go starting from the entrance of the school.

"Turn left to Mayibashiba street, huh…" I said to no one in particular as I read on.

I didn't know what to do, I felt my legs begin to turn left, but then the hospital came into my mind, "Mom," I whispered, unsure of what I should do, I had visited her every day since the attack without fail, could I miss today?

I knew what it felt to be abandoned, I had promised myself I would never allow that feeling even to dare show its face near mom, she may have been in a coma for the past few years but that only made it much worse to leave her alone as if she was dead.

Dad visited her every weekend; Yuzu and Karin would also go with him.

The idiot never visited.

Could I really miss today?

I frowned, the scream of the Hollows resonating in my ears as if they were here. I wanted vengeance; I wanted blood.

Mom was a Quincy, I didn't know yet what that meant, but she had tried to use one of those energy bows before the Hollow had attacked her with its powers.

I knew Gremmy must have killed the one I fought with yesterday; I remembered how he wasn't even bothered when the Hollow tried to cleave him in two; how yesterday I was on the brink of death only to wake up this morning with only a couple of aches.

I didn't know what being a Quincy meant…

I walked left.

The instruction took me around the edge of the shopping district near my home, only to then veer off to the north-east toward the zone of the town called Kitakawase, slowly the houses went from being a regular occurrence to scarce as I kept on the path towards a row of apartment buildings.

I reached a building that was identical to the rest, with the only difference being that it was the "V" apartment complex of the row with the letter emblazoned on the concrete next to the glass double doors of the entrance.

I pressed the code written in the instructions in the panel next to the doors, and they opened automatically.

I stepped inside and after a look around I zeroed on the four elevators and walked up to them; the instructions explicitly stated to get onto the one farthest to the right, I pressed the button and waited for it to come with both a hint of nervousness and curiosity mixing into my veins.

It didn't take long for a bell to sound, and for the elevator's door to open, it was brightly illuminated but had no decorations, it was just a metal box, and I stepped in it feeling I had just gotten willingly into the maws of a Hollow.

Just one last set of instructions to follow.

"Press the following numbers in a sequence; it says," I repeated the words in the paper out loud as the doors of the elevator closed.

Four, two, cero…

I pressed the floor numbers in quick succession. The ground shook below me before the metal box began to move.

Downwards.

"What?" there had not been a button at the entrance stating this thing could go down, yet it did, slowly moving down in complete silence for an eternity and a half that was probably no more than a minute before it landed brusquely, shaking and forcing me to grasp onto the wall to avoid falling before the lights switched off and the door began to open.

Light sipped in from the crack, the sudden change from light to dark and back to it blinded me, and I had to cover my eyes with my hat and my hand.

I didn't believe my eyes when I was able to see again.

A blue sky waved its soft white clouds from above while an ocean of green grass dance in the wind beyond. The elevator itself was propped into a tall hill, and I saw as I got out of it how the concrete tower that held it grew out into the distant sky to the point where it hid beyond a cloud, and I couldn't see it further.

There was a small lake not far from the elevator's hill that was shaped in the form of a slim five-pointed star.

I couldn't believe my eyes, this place was surreal, and out of my imagination, I glance one way or another, hoping to see walls or something, but only the horizon of greens and the sky welcomed my vision.

Then I blinked.

Gremmy now stood there in front of me, nothing more than a couple of steps apart from me looking like he had been there all along even though I knew better.

"What is this place?" I asked him only for him to give me one of his smiles before he answered.

"Welcome, Kurosaki-san, to my Seiren."

* * *

**And that's the end of the chapter! Quincy! Gremmy! Oh, so much is coming soon! This was more of a transitional episode with a lot of teasing, and I promise you the next one will reveal a lot of charming little things.**

**One thing that I do want to point out from this chapter is our big dark-skinned Mexican friend, aka Sado Yatsudora who made a cameo in this chapter. I said before that I would be taking away some light from some characters so that I could give it to others that I find more essential to my plot, and sadly Sado is one of those, still. I won't be straight up deleting any character from the story, they are still there, and their lives still matter, but Sado, for example, won't have even half of the screen time he did in canon.**

**I'm deeply sorry to those that love him, but if I want to realistically develop all the characters here then I have to limit the cast somehow. **

**Now back to the fun part of the author's notes, questions!**

**Last week's question: **if you were an Arrancar, which of the Espada would you like to become a Fracción of, and why?****

**I have to shamelessly admit that I want to be Starrk's Fraccion entirely to make googly eyes at him… is it bad that I am just noticing that I have a thing for older guys?**

**Question of the Week: Of the Shinigami, who has your favorite visual design? Ignore their personalities and powers for this question!**

**Remember to leave a review! Even just a few little words lift my spirit for the rest of the week!**


	9. S1: To Kill The Ignorance

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating, this work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence. **

**Hello, hello!**

**Episode 9 is here! REstart: Bleach has gone over a hundred favorites by now, I want to thank everyone that has come to like my work, it is quite humbling for someone like me to know this many enjoy this story and I will try my best to not disappoint you guys. **

**Without further ado, here is the chapter! I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I love writing it!**

**Oh, and as always, I do not own Bleach!**

* * *

**Season 1: Welcome Home**

**Episode 9: To Kill The Ignorance**

**Japan – Karakura Town – Gremmy's Seiren**

A gentle blue sky was laughing at me from above; the wind made the green ocean below us giggle as well, I was in fantasy land. A daydream stolen straight out of my head. Wonderland had come to the real world, and in front of me was the culprit.

The Mad hatter.

"Welcome, Kurosaki-san, to my Seiren," Gremmy said like it was the most casual thing ever, his hands hidden in his pockets, a small smile placed on his lips while the wind made the hood of his trench coat lazily dance over his messy hair.

"How…how is this even possible," I asked, forcing my mouth to remain closed instead of hanging open.

Gremmy shrugged at my question and responded with only, "I imagined it," before walking down the hill like that was a proper enough response.

I was torn between running back into the elevator and go to the hospital to check myself for any drugs in my blood or follow him down the hill; I sighed, realizing there was only one choice that I could do.

I followed him.

"What is this place anyway? Are we still in Karakura?" I asked as I caught up to him and walked beside him.

"Yes, we are; this place is underground, and for what it is, this is a training facility I made for you."

"Training facility?"

"You came to learn, didn't you?"

I nodded, but we remained silent for the rest of the way as we went down the hill, through the ocean of grass and to the shores of the massive star-shaped lake, the waters were a dark crystalline blue that hid its secrets, yet they were so calm I could see my reflection on them.

"Catch," Gremmy said while I was distracted peering into the waters, I turned to look at him only to see something sparkle in the air coming towards me.

"Oh!" I opened my hands to catch the thing; it was small, and when it landed between my hands, it pricked my palm painfully, and I cursed.

In my hand was a small cross made of a cold metal that shined in my eyes, the cross was connected to a thin chain through a hole on its top.

"A necklace?" I asked, but rather than answer my question, Gremmy pulled one of his hands out of his trench coat and began to gather blue energy on his open palm, I thought he was going to summon his bow again but instead just kept pulling more and more of the blue aethereal feathers into his hand.

"Do you want to know why Hollow attack humans and pluses?" he asked instead but didn't wait for me to answer. "Everything alive or that was once alive is made out of Reishi, you could call it spiritual matter, when it is concentrated into a soul then it is called your spiritual energy, that is what the Hollows want, they eat souls because they are made out of concentrated Reishi, but the world around us is also filled with it… just not as clustered."

"So, you mean it is like air, and if there is Reishi just floating around, why can they eat that instead of attacking people?" I asked.

"There is also water in the air, yet we can't drink it, can we?" He said with a chuckle and then continued, "The Reishi in the air is too thin and spread out for Hollows to notice it. But we can."

A bright blue sphere formed on Gremmy's hand like a light bulb, he looked at it, then back at me before he smiled and then the bubble of Reishi began to disperse again.

"This is what differentiates Quincies from regular humans, not only do we have more spiritual energy, but we are also capable of controlling at will the Reishi surrounding us, most of us come into our powers naturally, but there are exceptions to the rules, especially if they are not pureblood Quincies," he said.

Flashes of my mother holding onto her Reishi bow came into my mind, I knew she was a Quincy, but I had no idea about dad, I didn't make any comments about it and instead paid attention to Gremmy as he kept speaking.

"We will start your training to awaken your Quincy powers, Kurosaki-san, though unlocking your ability to shape Reishi should be the easiest part of this whole endeavor since you already know how to," he said, and I looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

"How could I know how to do that when I didn't even know Reishi was a thing a minute ago?"

He gave me another of his childish-looking smiles before he said, "I didn't heal you yesterday, Kurosaki-san. I could have, but you did it all on your own."

I gazed at my hand holding onto the necklace, almost unable to believe his words. "I don't remember doing it."

"But your body does," Gremmy said, "that in your hands is called a Quincy Cross, it's the simplest weapon and tool of a Quincy," as if to give an example he pulled another necklace from his pocket and showed it to me before he clenched it in his fist.

Not more than a couple of seconds later, a Reishi Bow materialized in his hand.

"It will act as a focus for Reishi when you pull it towards you and take the form of a spiritual weapon in the shape of a bow. After you learn how to mold Reishi, you will be able to command it into other types of weapons instead if you prefer," he said as his bow disappeared, and he pocketed his hand again.

I glanced again at the cross in my hand and closed my eyes, I had absolutely no clue of what to do, but I took a long breath and concentrated on the shape of the cross as I clenched my fingers around it.

The cold metal slowly warmed up with the touch of my skin; I felt the beads of the chain dig into my palm, and the tips of the cross begin to hurt me a little as I kept the pressure on it.

The seconds went on in silence, my hand began to ache, but I didn't move; I keep breathing, taking slow and methodical gulps of air while my eyes remained shut, and my eyebrows held a permanent frown.

Gremmy said nothing.

I felt the wind caress my hair and making it dance over my school uniform; annoyance build itself inside me, and then I couldn't hold it anymore, "Raa!" I shouted and clenched my fist as hard as I could, entirely ignoring the pain that created.

After I couldn't scream anymore, I opened my eyes, hoping I would magically see a bow in my hand.

There was nothing.

"That was just as entertaining to watch as I imagined," Gremmy said. As he casually walked closer.

"Are you mocking me?" I asked with a vein bulging on my forehead, which just increased in size when he nodded with his silly smile.

"Certainly!" he said with pride before he walked to me like he wasn't afraid of the fist I was showcasing on his direction.

He strolled past me as I exhaled in annoyance. When I twisted around to find him, I was perplexed by the sight of him standing next to a comfortable looking red armchair that I was sure wasn't there a minute ago.

"From tomorrow onward, you can sit in this chair and keep trying to pull Reishi. You already know how to get in here." He clapped the arm of the chair as if to emphasize his point.

"Why can't I continue now?" I asked only for him to point at my wrist as if that was enough of an answer.

"I imagine you have somewhere else to be by now."

I leaned my head sideways because I did not understand what he meant by that, he kept pointing at my wrist with my clock, so I decided to indulge him, and I checked it.

My eyes bulged out of my head.

It was almost dinner time, I couldn't understand how when I was sure I had only been here for less than an hour, I glanced at Gremmy, and he shrugged.

"You have already been at it for a long time, that you didn't notice it is a good sign."

"I have to go now," I turned to run but hesitated, unsure of what to say to him, should I thank him? Should I say goodbye? I didn't know how to react in this kind of situation; I don't think anyone had ever needed to figure that out either.

Gremmy chuckled and waved goodbye at me. "See you in class."

I nodded. "Bye."

I ran through the grass, up the hill, and towards the elevator, I pressed the button and waited until it opened and got inside.

My last view of Gremmy was of him still standing beside the red armchair.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

By the time I arrived at the front door of my house the sun had already gone to bed and the moonless night sky was hanging above me, I went in and pulled my shoes without a care of where they landed before I ran to the kitchen. "Sorry, I'm late!"

"Onee-chan?" Yuzu's voice sounded muffled, and I was horrified when I found her halfway inside the oven.

"What are you doing!?" I tugged her out by the rim of her clothes, and she arched an eyebrow like the answer should have been obvious.

"Dinner is late," she said, and I moaned in frustration.

"I'm sorry, I got stuck doing something, and I didn't notice the hour." I went around grabbing a skillet and other things as I planned out a dinner I could make in an instant, I usually wouldn't serve eggs for this hour, but they sounded like an excellent idea, and I pulled the egg carton out of the fridge.

Then a storm swept me off my feet from behind, and I found my stomach being strangled by a pair of hairy arms that wailed at me like a hungry baby, "Ichika! My beloved daughter, Ichika! I thought you had been kidnapped by evil men!"

"Dad, put me down!" I kicked him harshly on the leg, and he squealed as I was dropped down onto my feet.

He looked at me with a pretty bad imitation of puppy eyes, and I only ignored him; I regretted it seconds after because he then went onto the living room and threw himself on the sofa as he wailed, "Oh, Masaki! Our eldest daughter has turned into a rebellious teenager, where is my beloved cute Ichika that would love to hug papa all day round!"

"Shut up!" came Karin's voice from upstairs.

"Karin! Show papa some love!" Dad threw himself out of the sofa and went up the stairs, what followed was a screaming contest between him and Karin as the house trembled with the ruckus they were causing.

Yuzu and I glanced at each other; it was hard for me to contain the giggles rumbling on my belly, and Yuzu followed me soon after as she laughed while trying to hide it with the back of her hand.

After all the madness of these two days, it felt nice when all four of us sat in the table to eat together simple plates of scrambled eggs and toasts; I didn't even notice that I served the fifth portion and I made sure to put it in the microwave after I finished mine.

I washed and cleaned with Yuzu's help, and after everything was done and everyone was taken care off, I finally got to go into my room, I dropped my school bag on my desk and took out a couple of my books to do some homework but then I yawned.

I sat on my bed; I yawned again.

The next thing I knew, the alarm clock was blaring on my desk, and the sunlight said hello through the window's curtains.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Gremmy's Seiren**

Gremmy enjoyed the warm weather inside the Seiren, the breeze here was fresh but not freezing like the one outside and only lapped at his face softly rather than trying to rip his skin off.

Who could have thought having a body could be such a bother sometimes?

But that didn't matter; he was enjoying himself right now, he was sitting cross-legged in the grass while he played with one of his two new favorite hobbies while his other sat on the red armchair just a few feet away from him.

Kurosaki-san snarled again like a rabid dog, and Gremmy didn't bother hiding the chuckle that escaped his mouth. The girl had been at it for a whole week with little to no success, sitting in that chair concentrating on her Quincy cross for hours and hours. She would come here almost every day though she didn't on Friday or Saturday. Kurosaki-san never gave him an explanation as to why she didn't when he asked.

Gremmy could have quickly figured out why, but he preferred to unravel the mystery that was Ichika Kurosaki slowly, lest he gets bored.

But he didn't have the time to paid attention to her failing at pulling Reishi right now. He held the handheld gaming device in his hands, smashing his fingers hard on the buttons as his character did its best to dodge the bosses' attacks.

Gremmy had not known what a 'video game' was when Kurosaki-san asked him two days ago; she looked at him with so much pity that he actually had felt defensive against her for the first time.

The next day she had come to school with a little box she called a PSP and had told him to try it.

Kurosaki-san probably regretted it now, Gremmy had enjoyed playing so much he had kept it, he could have made a new one, but that wouldn't have been fun, making Kurosaki-san livid was one of the highlights of Gremmy's days.

Gremmy bent forward, his eyes on the screen, "Go, go, go, BG8, you can do it." he whispered to the character he had created in the game as it was about to give the final blow to the boss.

Gremmy had enjoyed creating the robot-like knight in the game, having to follow the rules and accept the games' limitations had made imagining the character more fun than he had expected.

BG8 had gained a spot in Gremmy's list of keepable toys, much like the Black-haired girl behind him had done.

"Uhh! I don't get this bloody thing!" Kurosaki-san yelled.

Gremmy paused the game to take a look at her, finding the girl sitting upside-down with her legs dangling off the top of the chair and her hat over her face. "Patience is one of man's greatest virtues." He quoted from a book they had studied in class earlier, knowing that it would strike a vein on the already frustrated girl.

"You sound way too much like an old man for someone my age," came Kurosaki-san's muffled voice from under her hat.

He chuckled. "I imagine I do, don't I?"

"I don't get how this thing is supposed to work," she complained; she pulled her hat out of her face and twirled it in circles above her with one of her fingers. "At least give me a hint."

"A hint?" Gremmy didn't know what she meant with that; he had never struggled to force Reishi to do his bidding, quite the contrary. Still, he gave some thought to the matter.

He knew that Kurosaki-san, being only a half-blood, would take some time before she could learn and practice with her Quincy abilities, but right now, they were way off the mental schedule he had initially planned.

Gremmy turned off the PSP and pocketed it before he leaned on his hands to stare at the artificial sky. He had created this place with his unique powers, commanding Reishi to extends only he knew how to achieve. There was so much of it in here; it should have been almost impossible for another Quincy's not to feel the need to pull it around a little.

Kurosaki-san acted as if she couldn't even sense it.

But what if…

Gremmy smiled.

"I thought a fun idea." Gremmy stood and swiped the blades of grass out of his trench coat and pants.

"I don't like your fun ideas." Kurosaki looked at him with apprehension, but Gremmy was happy also to notice there was some curiosity shining in her brown eyes. She moved on the chair until she sat lazily with her back wedged between the chair's arm and back cushion in a very unladylike fashion.

He grasped one of her hands, surprised that she didn't complain about it, Gremmy felt the need to tease her but instead continued with his plan.

He gave her what he believed was a friendly grin; she arched an eyebrow at him.

Gremmy pulled harshly on the Reishi around them, blasting it all toward their joined hands without care. He felt the energy impact his hand, it didn't hurt him, but Kurosaki-san cried out and pushed his hand away like it was in flames.

"What the hell?!" Kurosaki-san hid her hurt hand between her chest and her other arm.

"I imagine the reason you can't pull on Reishi may be because you don't know what you are looking for, so I threw it at you."

"Could you explain things before you do them? That hurt!"

Gremmy shrugged. "Try now."

He didn't stay to see if his plan had worked, he was more interested in going back to the game, so he walked away to give Kurosaki-san her training space, as she had demanded of him from the very second day she had started on this.

He sat back on the ground, took the PSP out of his pocket, and turned it back on; he saw with a bit of sadness that the battery wouldn't last much as it was already on red but as the loading screen gave him one of those random game tips he noticed the wind had stopped caressing his face.

An almost blinding light came from behind him, casting a shadow over him as it overpowered the artificial sunlight of the Seiren.

Reishi particles flew in a mad haze to reach Kurosaki-san's extended hand, rather than looking like blue feathers, the Reishi was moving so fast that it was like it had become a rain of arrows that flew to meet her. Gravity came crashing down, and Gremmy felt the weight of his body multiply as Kurosaki-san spiritual pressure, her Reiatsu, made the world tremble.

He couldn't look away, his eyes captured by the visage that Ichika had become.

Her hair floated, and her body glistened with pure Reishi that had transformed into a second skin surrounding her as she concentrated with her eyes closed and her hand ahead of her.

Just as quickly as the pressure had appeared, it receded into her, all the energy being pressed tightly into her fist.

Gremmy was going to congratulate her, expecting to see her form her first spirit weapon in any second, but instead, the glow of her fist kept increasing as the sound of a microwave gave way to a strange ringing noise.

"Throw it away." Gremmy threw the PSP to the grass and ran towards her.

She didn't seem to have heard him, Kurosaki-san didn't move at all, her hand still holding onto the Quincy cross and her frown deepening over her closed eyes.

Gremmy grasped her hand.

"What?" she exclaimed, opening her eyes and shaking as if she had been in a trance.

Gremmy snatched the cross out of her fingers and threw it over the lake.

Wind and blue fire blasted his hood as it bit onto his skin and burned his flesh faster than he could regenerate it.

Gremmy faced his back against it as he held and hid a screaming Ichika from the onslaught while the armchair flew away from the detonation of pure Reishi that had engulfed the sky above the lake where the cross had once been.

The explosion dispersed fast like an uninvited guest that had stolen the limelight and ran away with it, the once calm waters of the lake now splashed in the shore madly as if trying to escape.

Most of the back of his clothes had burned into ashes; for the first time in ages, he felt the need to throw away what remained of his trench coat, though he made sure to regenerate his injuries before he tucked out of it with only the little of his undershirt that had survived still covering the front of his body.

Kurosaki-san looked at him with a mixture of shame and sadness as she said, "I guess I messed that up, huh?"

Gremmy couldn't contain it anymore.

He laughed, he clenched his fingers over his stomach, the joy Gremmy felt couldn't, wouldn't be contained, and he felt no need to try.

"Why are you laughing!" Kurosaki-san's words sounded more like a demand than a question, but he kept chuckling until he had his fill.

Gremmy wiped a runaway tear from his eye. He tugged his hand in the pocket of his pants and pulled out a couple of small, tiny pebbles. He showed his open palm to the dark-haired girl.

"Rocks?" she asked with evident confusion spilling out of that single word.

"Grab one and try to do the same you did before. If it starts to light up, throw it."

After she didn't take any for a few seconds, Gremmy pushed his hand closer to her and nodded at it, Kurosaki-san sighed and took one of the rocks with just two fingers like it was disgusting.

She clasped it in her hand, a light began to shine through the crevices of her fingers, and she cursed before she threw the rock toward the lake.

It didn't reach it.

A much smaller explosion pushed both out of their feet and to the ground, it had not been anywhere near as big as the first one, but the rock had detonated only a couple of meters away from them.

Gremmy laughed.

"Why are you laughing?!" Kurosaki exclaimed

Gremmy laughed harder.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Gremmy's Seiren**

The concept of what I was doing was hard to define with words alone.

I was standing at the shore of the star-shaped lake with a pile of pebbles next to me, my right arm was tired, and the muscles of my shoulder felt like they were about to cramp on me. I took another rock from the pile and touched it, not with my fingers, but with my Reishi.

It turned an incandescent bright blue.

Gremmy had described it in a more technical way that went over my head and traveled to another country for free. The gist of it seemed to be that my Reishi was capable of messing with the spiritual energy that made up whatever I touched to the point that the thing would turn into a bomb.

I threw the rock as far as my tired limb could handle, watching it fall into the water and then explode with a monotony that could only be achieved after doing a repetitive task non-stop for days.

At first, I thought I had messed everything up, I mean it was a logical conclusion when you mess up weird magical things in books and movies, they tend to explode on you, but Gremmy said that wasn't the case, he said what I was doing was my "Schrift."

It would have been nice if he had then explained to me what the hell that meant instead of just giving me one of his infuriating smiles.

I took another pebble and repeated the process, and then another, and another…

Two weeks since I met Gremmy, one week since I learned my Schrift and began my actual training, which mostly consisted on trying to turn rocks into bombs as fast as possible, I also had to try to control the magnitude of the explosion, which was harder than it appeared at first. If I had to give an example, I would say it was like the heat settings on the shower, turn it a little to the left, and you are freezing, turn it just a tad to the right, and it became the deeps of hell. To complicate things further, it also varied depending on the object I tried to use my powers on; pebbles were easier and faster since they were made of almost no Reishi, but it would take a lot more of my energy to turn other things into bombs if they had more Reishi.

But that wasn't the only thing I was working on.

The phone in my skirt's pocket rang with a cute tune that made me bob my head as I mumbled the few parts of the lyrics that I remembered. I let it ring for a little, taking my time to throw one last rock before I took it out and put it over my ear. "Moshi, mosh!"

"Where am I?" Gremmy asked from the other side.

I groaned, staring up to the fake sky of the Seiren, I exhaled and took a long breath, concentrating, feeling.

The world filled with shining lights, rainbows of little multicolored candles that floated in every direction, each and one of them pulling a little or a lot at each of the hairs in my arms.

There high above me was one in particular that caught my attention; it was brighter than the rest.

"Uh, I'm going to go with, uhm, the fourth floor?"

"Correct." Gremmy chuckled over the line. "What apartment am I in?"

"How am I supposed to know that, I don't even know how the building looks from the inside!" I kicked the pile of rocks next to me as I heard the bastard laugh over the phone like it was the most amusing joke ever.

"You are getting better at sensing my Reiatsu; maybe we should move to the next lesson."

"Finally!" I ended the call and bent to take a pebble and threw it to the lake, this time the explosion was small enough that I considered it more of a tiny firework rather than an actual dangerous thing.

"You are progressing quite well," Gremmy said from behind me, and I sighed.

"When are you going to tell me how you move so fast?" I crossed my arms and arched an eyebrow expectantly at him even if I knew already what excuse he was going to use.

"A lesson for the future," he said with one of those smug smiles he was so fond of, Gremmy had his hands tugged on the pockets of his white trench coat like always when he walked next to me and poked what remained of the pile of rocks with the tip of his shoe. "How tired are you?"

"My arm feels like it is going to fall off."

"Only that?"

"Yeah, I haven't done anything else since I got here than throw rocks and stand here," I stated the obvious, and he looked at me weird for a moment and then shrugged.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

Things felt off.

Karin couldn't raise her finger and point at a particular problem; there were a lot of those in the family right now that everyone just walked around them like they weren't there, but her family had still managed to stay together.

She stared at the plate of reheated food between her hands, she loved Ichi-nee's curry, even if Karin's older sister never stopped complaining about how unhealthy curry was while making it.

But it wasn't the same to eat it like this.

"Are you not hungry?" Yuzu poked her shoulder gingerly; Karin's younger sister was sitting in the seat next to her with another plate of reheated curry in front of her.

It was untouched as well.

There was a tension building up in the house, a dark liquid that was slowly drenching every surface of their lives and burning all the oxygen. Karin knew Yuzu's current smile was just as fake as the calm Karin was showcasing. Yuzu had always been the one more empathetic of the two, so if Karin was noticing it, then Yuzu must have been drowning on it.

Dad was overworking himself more often, his goofy smiles looking ever more forced while he stayed longer in the clinic side of the house as if he was avoiding his children.

Ichi-nii still avoided everyone in the household, the few times Karin managed to bump into him he was always dirty and filled with scratches as he had just gotten out of a fight, he would look at her almost as if he was ashamed of being around and would disappear into his room and lock himself in.

Ichi-nee had begun to come later and later in the evening with each passing day, coming tired and hiding bruises that Karin only noticed because of the slight limp here or the way Ichi-nee favored one arm there. Ichi-nee had always been the one trying to keep the family unit together after the accident that put mom in a coma, but now that she wasn't around, it was like everything was falling apart.

The front door opened with a feminine groan calling out in exhaustion.

"I'm home!" Ichi-nee called out, and Yuzu jumped out of her seat to run and met their older sister. Karin stayed in her chair; she glanced at her food, taking a spoonful of it and shoving it in her mouth.

"Wefcom bac!" Karin shouted with her mouth filled to the brim with rice and curry, and she held dearly onto the grin that appeared on her lips when she heard her older sister shout at her not to talk with her mouth full.

Karin leaned over the back of her chair and gave Ichi-nee a lazy wave when the older girl walked into the kitchen and inspected it even though Yuzu had already cleaned up.

"I'm sorry, I'm so late." Ichi-nee dropped her ever-present hat on the kitchen's counter and went into the fridge and took a plastic bottle which she drained in a long gulp as if her life depended on it, Karin also noticed the grimace in Ichi-nee's face as she then kneaded one of her arms as if it hurt.

Karin didn't comment on it; like always, she acted like she didn't notice.

The rest of the evening wasn't any different than the rest, Ichi-nee prepared tomorrow's bento boxes for school with Yuzu's help, had another shouting match with dad over sweets, and then went to take a bath while Karin watched the world move around her from the comfort of the sofa.

"Remember you have classes tomorrow," Ichi-nee shouted from upstairs after she got out of the bathroom.

"Hai," Karin stood, turned off the tv and went around the first floor of the house, turning lights off, she went to the stairs, but she hesitated in the first step.

she went into the kitchen instead, feeling the cold tiles of the floor against the soles of her feet, Karin strolled in the dark until she found the tiny carpet in front of the sink and then Karin sat on it with her arms around her knees as she waited.

She didn't have a clock with her; she couldn't see the one in the microwave from her position either, it still didn't feel like a long time had passed when she heard someone walk down the stairs, out to the living room and then to the front door.

Karin heard the door open and then closed.

She waited for another breath before she stood up and went to the door.

Ichi-nee's shoes were missing again.

* * *

**And that's the end of the episode! I will be honest this was probably the hardest chapter to write for me so far, I have always hated training and exposition chapters in fanfiction because most of the time they end up turning into simple summaries like, "oh, I learned this, that, this and this other thing, also this is how this, that and the other work." **

**I wanted to make this instead look more natural and avoid shoving too much exposition directly to your throats. **

**Now an important bit of news, the next chapter: Episode 10 will be the end of season 1, woohoo! Episode 10 will be posted next week like always, but then I will be going on a tiny hiatus. Christmas is coming, and I won't have time to either develop or start writing Season 2 right away. I'm sorry about that, but real life is evil and mean sometimes. I'm not sure when I will post Episode 11, but I will try my best not to leave you guys hanging for long.**

**Now for the questions!**

**Last week's question: Of the Shinigami, who has your favorite visual design? Ignore their personalities and powers for this question!**

**Sui-Feng is my favorite design between all Shinigami; she looks quite badass and unique and also helps a lot with my self-esteem because it is nice seeing a tiny girl like me being a badass captain. **

**Question of the Week: let's go out of the realm of Bleach for this question. If you could be reincarnated in any Anime world of your choosing, which one would you pick?**


	10. S1: I'm a Quincy Afterall

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating, this work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence.**

**Hello everyone! We have finally reached episode 10. The final chapter of REstart: Bleach Season 1!**

**OMG. Thank you, everyone, for reading so far, it is thanks to your beautiful words that I kept on writing and will keep on! Please try not to skip to the end of the chapter on this one in particular and read it slowly! There is also a vital Author Note at the end, which will state my future plans in general, with, of course, no spoilers.**

* * *

**Season 1: Welcome Home**

**Episode 10: I'm a Quincy Afterall**

**Japan – Karakura Town – Gremmy's Seiren**

Tired, broken, sore, aching.

So many words to describe me, yet they all felt inconsequential. My brain was just not on it, the idea of trying to come up with a smart description to my current predicament was too much, and the only thing I wanted was to go rest down in my bed with one of my zombie plushies and forget the world existed for a couple of hours.

There was a particularly spiky rock poking one of my shoulder blades, but I wasn't in the mood for moving, I preferred to enjoy the feeling of every lungful of air that traveled down my throat while I lay in the middle of a car-sized crater.

"Are you dead?" Gremmy asked from outside my comfy abode; I couldn't see him from here, and for that, I thanked the artificial heaven above me, I didn't want to see his smug face right now.

He then had to lean over and show me his ever-present smile. "Why are you hiding in there?"

"Shut up," I said, "I made this hole; it is my hole; I'm staying here now and forever." My arms hurt, but I still moved them up, I pushed the peak of my hat over my eyes and rested my head over my hands to make myself more comfortable.

I heard and felt him slide down into my property as he came closer and kneeled next to me, I didn't bother complaining anymore when he grasped one of my arms with his hands and traced his fingers over my skin. I had already become desensitized to Gremmy's inability to understand personal space.

"You are getting better with your use of Blut," he said, and I groaned.

"Not good enough, you still beat the crap out of me so easily." I shook his hands from my arm and pushed myself up into a sitting position; I clasped my hat and inspected it, brushing away the dust that had accumulated all over it.

"Two months ago, you couldn't sense nor control Reishi; now you can make it flow into your blood vessels to enhance your muscles with it; that is what Blut is." Gremmy stood and hid his hands inside his pockets. "You should learn to take compliments, Kurosaki-san."

"I still can't change from the defensive form to the offensive fast enough," I complained loudly more to myself than to him. I sighed and put my hat back on before I began to decide if it was genuinely worth it standing up.

"It will take some time, Kurosaki-san, both forms of Blut are intrinsically opposites in how they work," Gremmy looked up to the sky before he continued, "I imagine this concludes today's training."

I stood up, dusting myself, and got out of the hole before I glanced around the Seiren.

Explosion craters littered the once perfect green ocean; I didn't worry knowing that they would be gone by the next time I came in here.

The answer to that strangely wasn't tomorrow anymore.

"When are you coming back from your trip?" I stole a peek at Gremmy, who was still staring up but then turned to watch me with a smirk.

"Missing me already, Kurosaki-san?"

"More like wanting to know how many days of happiness I'm going to have," I responded with a twitch on my eyebrow to emphasize my words, but he didn't let that break his ever-cheery mood.

"Three days, Kurosaki-san."

I nodded, still feeling the need to ask something more, but then I scowled, the hairs of the back of my arms tilting as my senses recoiled from what they had been forced to touch.

Far to the south-east, the smell of rotten fish, the sickening feeling of spoiled flesh, corrupted Reishi turned into a mockery of life.

"Hollow," Gremmy's smile shined brighter as if that was a good thing, "You can sense it that far away already?"

"Sadly," I said without hiding the disgust it made me feel combined with the frustration of my inability to figure out how to turn off my sensing abilities like Gremmy seemed capable of.

"You better go back home then." Gremmy leaned his head sideways; I knew every second now that I wasted could be dangerous. Gremmy had promised me he would deal with any Hollow that appeared in town until he deemed, I knew enough to fight, too, but then…

I would have to do this quickly, both for the safety of my city and because it was going to be embarrassing.

"Wait, I brought something for you." I ran to the ever-present red armchair next to the lake where my school bag was resting safely away from our combat training. I opened it and took out the yellow bento box in it; I glanced at Gremmy, who had stayed in place and was only looking at me curiously.

He couldn't see what I had in my hands from his point of view, and I had to fight with myself a little not to hide the box back into my bag and act as nothing happened, but I couldn't do that.

Gremmy may have been the most annoying kid ever, but he was my friend, watching him never eat anything worried me and I knew he was lying when he said he ate alone, we had spent entire days together where I never saw him even drink water.

I sighed, may as well do this fast so I can get out of here quickly.

I walked up to him with bag on my back and box on my hands. Not bothering to hide the bento box, I thrust it on his chest, and I felt a small sense of pride when his usually teasing expression turned into pure bewilderment and confusion, I dropped the box off my hands, and Gremmy flinched before he caught it.

"Don't starve." I walked away.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Onose River**

Only the legs of the Hollow had survived the onslaught, and they began to slowly disperse into Reishi. The Onose river didn't deserve such a name as it was more of a human-made canal at the edges of Karakura Town. Gremmy stood there staring into the waters with his back against an inclined concrete wall that hid the river from view.

Gremmy's mind was in a state of limbo; on most occasions, he would toy with his prey, but instead, he had swiftly executed the Hollow for a chance because he wanted some time to rummage through his head.

There was a cocktail of emotions playing tricks inside him, he liked them and not, he was aggravated and not, he was pleased and not. He had always preferred to be in control of every situation, but he didn't feel in control at all.

It bothered him that it didn't bother him.

"Humans are… a headache," he whispered to himself as he took the yellow bento box out of his trench coat's pocket, this was useless to him, yet it didn't feel useless at all.

He didn't have time to ponder over it, another presence walked behind him, one that soured the moment.

From the shadows of the nearby wall came the maws of a dark portal.

A man with a long mane of golden locks wearing a white military uniform with a calf-length trench coat and a sheathed sword that hung from his belt went out of the shadow door but moved no further than that, leaving the portal open behind him.

"Uhm, I wonder who you could be?" Gremmy asked without turning his head to look at the man, a smile still held onto his lips but even Gremmy had to admit he was having a hard time faking it as he felt his fingers clench over the bento box.

"Gremmy," the blonde man said his name with no inflection, no poison or emotion came from his voice yet Gremmy knew the other man didn't need to be so upfront to showcase his distaste.

Gremmy finally turned fully toward the other man; he left a dark smirk take over his features. "Oh, you know my name! I seem to be at a disadvantage then, 'cuz you know…you got that kinda face that is just so…forgettable."

"His majesty demands your presence already."

The man's words were met by Gremmy's arched eyebrow. "Does he? I thought he wanted me to take care of his little pet project."

"The special war power can wait; his majesty's demands will not."

Gremmy chuckled but didn't move, the other man frowned, finally showing emotions as his hand slowly shifted towards the hilt of his sword.

Gravity became thick like molasses, the weight of the world crashed down on him, and the blonde man gasped as air couldn't reach his lungs any longer.

As fast as the world had become his enemy, the weight disappeared in an instant, leaving the blonde man taking desperate gulps of airs and looking at the shorter boy with pure hatred.

"I imagine this won't take long." Gremmy shrugged, a venomous smile still atop his lips as he walked toward the blonde man, around him and into the portal like he had just been avoiding a puddle of mud rather than a man.

The blonde man, Jugram Haschwalth, glanced at the portal's darks entrance. He closed his eyes and got his face back in control before he stepped inside it.

The darkness receded silently; only the natural shadows of the human world remained as witnesses of what unfolded there.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Mashiba Junior High**

The bell sang her beautiful song declaring the end of the second period; I wasn't particularly against math class, but it was hard to see the appeal of it when Sensei's voice was more monotone than the numbers themselves.

"Uhm! Finally." Tatsuki intertwined her arms and rose them high above her head as she stretched her back in her desk next to mine, I kept on biting the tip of my pencil while my eyes held onto the board ahead.

I saw none of it.

I was instead paying attention to the sound behind me, people getting up their desks here and there, conversations raising as students decided what to eat or where, but I wasn't paying attention to that either.

The scrapping of a chair at the back of the classroom, louder than most because he never bothered to try and raise it from the floor, I heard wisps of his voice as he called out the name of his giant, dark-skinned friend who sat next to him.

They left through the backdoor of the classroom.

I sighed it and finally turned toward Tatsuki, she was watching me with that scowl of her that told me she was worried. She didn't say a thing though; she had done so, so many times she probably had given up already.

"Uhm, Hi, Tatsuki-chan, Ichika-chan," Orihime's voice made me finally glance behind me, the girl with short orange hair had her lunch bag between her arms like a shield and was looking at us like she was afraid we would shun her in any moment, "can I eat with you two again?"

I frowned and regretted it right away since Orihime noticed and flinched like she was about to bolt and run away, thankfully Tatsuki was there to cover my blunders.

"You don't need to ask us that every day, you are our friends, come on, let's go." She softly shoved my shoulder, "You too, grumpy face."

I chuckled while I leaned next to my desk to grab onto my bag, I had two bento boxes in it, and I grabbed the light blue one for myself while I left the other over the empty desk in the back of the classroom before following the girls outside.

The rest of the day went away in a blink of an eye; classes ended with no trouble, and I went to visit mom in the hospital, I still felt like a bad daughter for coming only in the weekends.

"I wonder what you would say, mom," I asked her from the chair next to her bed, one of her hands resting in between mines.

Dad had once told us the name of my little brother meant 'to protect one thing,' he never said to me if mine had a deeper meaning behind it like that; if it did, mom would probably be disappointed with me.

When I thought of Hollows, I never thought of saving others from them; even when I forced Gremmy to hunt them, I didn't do it because of innocents or whatnot.

I wanted blood.

A hollow had tried to take what mattered most in my life, mom survived, yet our family shattered anyway without her to put it back together.

I wanted blood.

"I love you," I whispered the words without looking away from our intertwined hands, I was ashamed.

I left without saying goodbye.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

I wondered if dad had made mom wear this same kind of nurse uniform when she helped in his clinic, the thought had come uninvited into my head, and I shook it harshly trying to get rid of it as fast as I could.

The clothes looked more like a cosplay of a nurse rather than an actual uniform.

It consisted of a pink nurse dress cut above the knees with pockets at the side and a breast pocket. Dad also had tried to make me wear a nurse cap but had stopped after I 'accidentally' added chilis to his food.

"Ichika-chan, can you bring the red bottle I left outside? It says Atorvastatin in the print." Dad was sitting comfortably on a chair next to the bed of our current patient, an elderly woman from the neighborhood who seemed to come up with a new illness every week.

That ninety-nine percent of those illnesses were imaginary is something dad never acknowledged out loud.

I went outside the room and found the tiny red bottle of pill in the wheeled tabled right next to the door, I took it and shook it once, hearing its content resonate like a maraca before I went back in and gave it to dad.

"So, Yomiora-san, these pills are meant to be used for cholesterol control, you do not need them."

"But but what if I become diabetic? I heard once you get it, it cannot be cured, ever!" the woman said half speaking and half shrieking, and I grimaced as her words echoed in the small room and did a number on my ears.

On the other hand, dad kept his professional face; it was sometimes hard to remember this man was the same idiot that yesterday broke a hole in the bathroom walls with his head because he tried to have a 'father-daughter bath,'

That I had been the one putting his head through it wasn't important.

"While that is true, Yomiora-san, you are nowhere near close to becoming diabetic, so you don't need it, I will be keeping this bottle with me, okay?"

The woman nodded and sniffled like a reprimanded kid, not soon after she was out of the clinic's door, and dad and I were waving at her as she became a distant dot down the street.

The moon came to chat later in the night, guiding me on a peaceful and dreamless sleep that was only interrupted by my alarm clock, like the one in charge of cooking I couldn't sleep in even on Saturdays.

Not like I would complain, I preferred the lack of sleep over risking Yuzu endangering herself in the kitchen or dad committing murder by cooking something and feeding it to someone in the family.

I had not much to do that day, with the clinic empty, and no housework, my regular visit to mom was a pleasant reprieve from boredom. As another night approached, I found myself in the kitchen, cutting up vegetables.

Dad was still in the clinic updating patients' files, Yuzu was doing her homework upstairs, the fifth member of our family was locked up in his room, and Karin was in the living room watching tv.

It was a new soap opera that had just started airing; I could tell it was already going to go in a very cliché route, but I had stopped cutting the carrot halfway because I was engrossed watching the tv from the kitchen's counter.

Officially neither Karin or I liked this kind of shows, but as long as no one else caught us in the act, neither of us was going to acknowledge it, and I mean, if nobody else knew, then it didn't happen, right?

"Onee-chan?" Yuzu's voice came from the stairs, and the tv's channel was changed to a sports one in an instant while I began to chop carrots like my life depended on it, completely ignoring the sound of the steps walking down the stairs.

"Do you need help?" Yuzu asked from the living room, "you are taking a long time, Onee-chan."

Karin, the traitorous little goblin chuckled at that comment, and I cleared up my throat before I responded, "No, I'm fine, the pot of curry is already boiling I just have to add this and let it simmer."

"Eh? Curry again?" Yuzu complained, and I felt that in my heart, it was nice to know I wasn't the only one that disliked the dish in this house. But sadly… I sighed.

"You knew the deal, whoever got the best grades yesterday got to choose dinner."

"Euh." Yuzu pouted, and I had a hard time not giggling because of how adorable she looked like, sometimes it was hard to remember that Yuzu and Karin were only nine years old, and then I felt a tinge of pain in my heart like a needle digging deep into it.

They shouldn't have needed to become so mature so early in life…

I finished cutting the carrots, I threw them all into a bowl and went onto the boiling pot of curry, I dropped them in and lowered the heat to a simmer before I dusted my hands out of some imaginary need for it and went to set the table up.

A scent of rotten fish hung itself on my nose.

I spat air through it, trying to clear it from the smell, but it didn't leave.

Cold sweat dripped down my spine, and the realization made me open my eyes in shock.

I felt it in my skin, the tug in the hairs of my arms as the unholy presence appeared in our world and was caught by my senses.

Hollow.

It was close.

"Ichi-nee?"

I shook my head, coming out of the stupor to find Karin staring at me from the sofa, worry evident in her large eyes. I forced a smile on my lips, but I knew I had failed to make it look real when Karin's expression only became sourer.

"We… we don't have to eat curry, you know?" she said, and I felt my heart break a little.

I walked out of the kitchen and toward the sofa, Karin's eyes following me on every step as I came around the couch and sat next to her, she didn't move and didn't fight when I grasped her over the shoulder with an arm and tugged her in my chest.

The putrid smell and the weight in the air slowly lifted as I breathed in the scent of Karin's shampoo. I pushed my nose deeper into her hair and enjoyed the feeling of her arms wrapping around my body.

"Ichi-nee, you are going to strangle me." Karin tapped me in the back, she didn't sound like she was struggling, but I let her go anyway, her cheeks were rosy with the tint of shyness, and I had a hard time not laughing as I got up from the sofa.

The pressure was still there, tugging me in the creature's direction like a rope around my neck, it was hard not to let it bother me.

Throughout dinner, I couldn't pay attention to dad and Karin's ongoing feud or to Yuzu trying to stop her sister from throwing a spoonful of curry into dad's eye. I barely touched my plate and took advantage of the commotion to wrap it in plastic foil and place it in the microwave with the fifth plate of dinner.

I washed the dishes in automatic, not paying attention to anything else than the constant feeling of dread caressing my nape. Karin turned the tv off and went to bed, Yuzu followed soon after, dad yawned half an hour later and went upstairs saying goodnight before closing the door to his room.

I stayed there.

Standing in the kitchen, feeling the tug.

I let it tug me.

I was out of the house before I knew it, only my hat, white sundress under my apron, and a pair of sandals for clothes to hide me from the freezing night as every step lead me down a road to the south.

The smell and the pull of the imaginary rope around my neck became stronger and stronger when I left the limit of the neighborhood, and houses gave way to empty roads that didn't last long before I reached the abandoned textile factory.

With no wind to call my name, no clouds to hide my doubts, and a bright half-moon shining above, I stood there in silence and solitude staring at the dark shadow of the building that reminded me more of a haunted castle from a fairy tale than to something real.

The beast howl broke the silence, echoing through the metal and concrete walls of the factory.

"Where are you, Gremmy," I whispered to the wind hoping his name would give me some relief. Hours had gone by since the Hollow had arrived here, that it had stayed in this desolated place instead of going on a rampage must have been a miracle.

Another howl made me yelp.

I gulped, I hesitated with my leg half risen to take a step, then a crashing sound as if dozens of metal tubes had fallen followed a shaking of the earth. I took the step.

More followed.

The soft dirt of the entrance welcomed my sandals like an old friend. A pile of metal tubes chimed with twisted songs composed by the Hollow digging its way out from underneath them; large muscled arms protruded from the mass of tubes before a gorilla-like Hollow with a white horned mask came out of them looking up without noticing me.

I kneeled and grasped a fistful of gravel, tiny black rocks that pinched my skin. I picked only one with my other hand.

Golden yellow eyes turned on my direction; a sparkle appeared as they noticed me, and a growl began its way up the Hollow's throat.

I rose my clenched hand.

The beast got out of the pile and began to walk towards me.

My blood was boiling.

Its mouth opened, saliva dripping down.

My hand was burning; my chest was screaming.

Light dripped off my fingers.

The Hollow charged.

And I threw my rock.

The rock hit him cleanly at the side of the Hollow's mask, not even making it flinch before it exploded and engulfed the beast in a fire, throwing it to the side with its face covered in smoke and one of its horns missing.

I ran toward the Hollow before it could recover, it swiped through the ground with one of its arms, and I leaped over it as Reishi traveled towards my hand with the gravel and its content lighted up.

I was right on its face, and it screamed in rage, leaving its maw wide open; I threw the content of my hand into it only for it to explode and for the explosion to push us both in different directions.

The Hollow fell backward, screaming in pain while I landed on my feet without a spec of dirt on my white clothes. I went low to grasp more ammunition from the floor, but the Hollow threw itself blindly towards me with one of its fists coming directly at me.

My veins were bulging.

Blue light traveled inside my skin.

My hand rose to meet the monstrous fist.

The wind broke, and the world shattered, the sound died, and the creature shrieked in confusion.

Its fist caught in the palm of my hand. The pressure of the Hollow's weight on its fist feeling like nothing more than that of an empty cup of tea to me and a feral smile christened my lips.

I wasn't weak anymore. I wasn't the prey anymore.

I was the hunter.

I was Quincy.

I let go of its fist, the momentum still in it made the Hollow's arm rip through the air, making my hair trash wildly next to me as its hand crashed in the ground beside me. Our eyes met.

His broken mask a breath away from my nose.

My hands flashed ahead, grasping onto it.

The Hollow stood up high with me still in tow, my feet against the corners of its maw, while feathers of Reishi danced into my hands holding onto its face. The Reishi slithered inside its mask, making the whiteness of it gave way to blinding blue light as it became a bomb.

Its wild mind understood what was happening, I saw it in its eyes as it trashed and when it howled and shrieked

I met it with my scream of war.

Fear.

The Hollow's golden eyes were filled with fear.

Blinding light, blue fire starting, horror in golden eyes, death imminent.

I relished it.

* * *

**Soul Society – Seireitei – Thirteenth Division's Barracks**

**Two years later…**

She knew she most likely didn't have any reason to feel nervous.

When her captain called someone to reprimand them, it usually came with a severe tone of voice and a disappointed visage upon the man's face — two things she had not seen.

Still…

Kuchiki Rukia, couldn't stop herself from recounting everything she had done in the previous days as an unseated member of the Thirteenth division as she walked through the hallway toward her captain's office.

She was trying to find anything in her memories that could have gotten her in trouble, there was that time two days ago that she stole some sweetbreads, but Rukia was sure nobody had seen her.

Rukia reached the rice paper doors and felt her hand waver, even though she knew there was no getting out of this, she didn't want to open the door.

She sat on the floor with her knees under her waist and then slid the door open with her head bend down, hoping that acting submissive would make her captain forgive her; the man wasn't known for being harsh. Still, she didn't want to risk getting an order to clean the communal bathroom for a week or something like it.

"Kuchiki Rukia, here as ordered!" she announced, Rukia lowered her head even further and gulped.

"Ah, Rukia, thank you for coming," her captain's voice received her with warmth rather than the disappointed tone she had expected. She stole a little glance to see with her own eyes if the man wasn't mad at her and felt relieved when she only saw a bit of confusion muddle up his smile

"Ukitake-taicho." She rose her head and finally looked to the man.

Ukitake Jushiro was a tall, pale man that wore the traditional Shinigami uniform together with the white haori that reminded the world of his position as a captain of the Gotei thirteen. An unknown disease had plagued him throughout his life, leaving him lean and with an ill appearance that was only abated by his tender expression under his long white hair.

Then Rukia noticed they weren't alone.

Ukitake-taicho sat at one side of his desk, a steaming cup of tea in his hands, at the other side of the office sat another man with a white haori and brown hair that was currently giving her his back before the man turned around with a friendly smile.

"Oh, Aizen-taicho, I'm sorry I didn't know you were here too," she said.

"There is nothing you need to be sorry for Kuchiki-san," the man said, and Rukia couldn't stop herself from returning the man's smile.

"Please come on in, Rukia," Ukitake-Taisho said with one of his hands pointing to the empty pillow seat next to Aizen-taicho. "I have new important orders for you."

Her captain's words elicited a feeling of excitement that bubbled inside her belly up to her heart. Throughout all her time as a Shinigami, she had always been relegated to do little odd jobs here and there in the division.

Unlike her best friend who had risen through the ranks thanks to a myriad of fantastic, if sometimes dangerous assignments, Rukia's hardest job so far had been heating the captain's tea.

She had only been once in a hazardous situation, and although Rukia had come out alive, sometimes she wondered if she deserved it…

"You probably know by now…" Ukitake-taicho began to say, and his words took Rukia out of her thoughts. "Our division gained custody of the district Three thousand six-hundred, better known as Karakura Town in the human world not long ago."

Rukia nodded. "It was staffed by the twelve division before, wasn't it?"

Ukitake-taicho's smile soured, his lips turning into a line as he scowled, "It was."

Rukia gulped, she was curious what had happened that could have made the twelve division lose custody over one of their districts. Still, neither of the two captains present seemed happy about the situation. She wasn't about to plunge a hand into the nest of snakes that was the issues between divisions.

Still, she didn't understand why her captain was talking about this with her, and her face probably showcased her confusion even if she didn't voice it because Ukitake-taicho went onto explain right away.

"Now that the district is our responsibility, it means I must send one Shinigami from our division to take care of Hollows in the area as well as perform Konso to help pluses reach soul society..."

The implications of his words made Rukia's eyes wide open; her heart was beating faster than a drum.

"And I want you to take the position," Ukitake-taicho finished. He was going to keep talking. He planned on telling her she could take some time to decide if she wanted the job since he didn't like forcing his subordinates into situations they may not like but before he could even take a breath, Rukia had jumped in the air.

"Yes!" she shouted with her arms tightly pressed against her chest and her feet taking little leaps before Rukia remembered where she was and with whom she was talking, her face turned a deep red, and she sat back into the pillow seat with the expression of a rabbit caught in a trap hanging on her face.

The two captains chuckled, making her even redder with embarrassment. Ukitake-taicho took a sheet of paper from underneath the desk and offered it to Rukia, who took it fast, hoping to get it over it so she could go to the nearest plot of ground and dig a hole to hide in.

"You will start your new position as the District's Shinigami in one month. I know you will do fine, Rukia." Ukitake smiled, watching the girl somehow managed to get even redder and squeamish as she thanked him in a whisper.

She left not soon after, Aizen's eyes never leaving her figure as he walked away.

A grin never leaving his eyes.

* * *

**And this is how Season 1 ends! Next season will be the start of Bleach canon.**

**The name of the REstart: Bleach Season 2 will be: The Substitutes.**

**I stated this in the previous episode but I will be going on a hiatus for Christmas for two reasons, the first one is that I will be way too busy with real-life to write much, and the second reason is that I have only mapped out half of Season 2. One thing I like to do while writing is map out in a spreadsheet every important plot point to keep the story cohesive. I won't start writing the actual chapters until I finish my spreadsheet, just like I did with season 1. **

**I'm not entirely sure when I will post the first chapter of Season 2, but it at least is after Xmas eve. Thought I will try getting it out before new year if possible**

**Another important news is that I will be posting the first chapter of a brand new story next week. You may say, "wait, but aren't you taking a break from writing cuz of Xmas? Why the heck are you writing something else?!" **

**The truth is that I already wrote it.**

**As silly as this may sound, I have found that for me it is easier to write when I'm working in two projects at the same time instead of just one, that way when I get stuck in a paragraph in one work I can swap to the other and keep writing until an idea pops out. I can continue, rather than stare at the same page angrily for five or six hours. **

**My other work is another SIOC, but it is not in Bleach, I hope you guys still give it a chance if you like my style of writing. **

**Now onto the questions! Since this is the last episode of the season, I wanted to ask a more interesting question this time. You guys have come to know Ichika for ten episodes of REstart, and I wonder…**

**Question of the Season: If you had to choose a theme song for Ichika, what song would you pick? I would also like to know what are your thoughts about her.**

**Last week's question: Let's go out of the realm of Bleach for this question. If you could be reincarnated in any Anime world of your choosing, which one would you pick? **

**I would love to be reborn in the world of Mobile Suit Gundam IRON-BLOODED ORPHANS, thou hopefully into one of the elite families of Gjallarhorn, I so want to go fangirl all over Gaelio! Thought I would probably try to steal his Gundam… **

**His Gundam is cuter than him…**

**Remember to leave a review if you liked (or not) the episode and the season in general! your reviews help a lot with my mood and self-esteem as a writer, and even if you have some negative things to say I would appreciate reading your thoughts, criticism can only help make me a better writer so please be honest!**


	11. S2: Death & Blueberry

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence.**

**Salutations everybody! **

**I hope you all have had a lovely holiday season! **

**I know this isn't much, but I tried to work extra hard to get the very first episode of REstart: Bleach Season 2 out before the end of the year, and I somehow managed to do it!**

**I'm very excited about this chapter in particular and I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it. **

**And as always, I do not own Bleach!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Season 2: The Substitutes**

**Episode 11: Death & Blueberry**

**Japan – Karakura Town – Rooftops**

The town rested in limbo, between the dying sun and the rising moon. An orange sky kissed the rooftops of the city while gentle clouds loitered around.

Someone stood above an electric pole.

Invisible to all eyes, wearing a black kimono and with a katana hanging from her waist.

Her vigil had been disturbed.

She leaped to the nearest rooftop, disappearing like a ghost.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Makashiba Bridge**

Makashiba bridge was a sort of open secret for the high school gangs and delinquents of Karakura town; the bridge was once used only for trains to cross one of the rivers, which made the structure thick even if the artificial river below it was quite slim.

The ground below the bridge had slowly filled with random trash and objects, from a broken couch here to a pile of old wrecked bikes there, many things had been left there to rot and lay forgotten, some people even said a girl had committed suicide there years ago.

The local police didn't patrol this area much, which left it like a den for the younger folks of the town to do their things unbothered by adults, gang fights, and other shady business had once been done here on a daily basis.

That wasn't the case anymore.

The gangs and delinquents had been driven out in fear; they knew the place was haunted now, not by the fake ghost of a girl, but by a much more frightening presence that was quite real In contrast.

Still, some dared and tried to reclaim the old hideout.

Slowly, like dancing with the elegance of a drunk pig wearing high heels, a body flew through the air and crashed into the broken sofa, snapping the old thing in half as only the man's legs ended up outside of it, twitching like a pair of antennas.

"That punk kicked Li'l Yama!" shouted one of the skaters surrounding the last figure, they were four of them without counting their downed leader while their enemy was only one guy, but none of them dared approach the younger high school student that calmly walked up to their fallen comrade in the broken coach.

The guy was infamous, and they all knew his name.

Kurosaki Ichigo.

Fifteen-year-old.

Hair: orange.

Eyes: brown.

Occupation?

High school student.

"Hey, you! Say something!" Shouted one of the skaters taking a step forward with his fist up for a fight, but from one blink to the other, something appeared in his vision that wasn't there before.

It was a foot.

Ichigo's sole stamped on the skater's face with it's sole, the man flew and crashed against the concrete wall much to the dismay of the surviving members of his gang that squealed like a group of pigs.

"This is messed up! Real mess up!" cried one of them, the others joining on his screeching of panic until Ichigo had enough of it.

"Shut up!" Ichigo quieted them down by stomping on the head of the unconscious skater. He waited for the others to stop whining before he said, "Now you idiots are going to do what I tell you!"

He walked toward them, a lion stalking its terrified prey, the skaters felt their legs become too wobbly with fear to run away "Look there!" Ichigo ordered while pointing toward the back where the ground meets the wall.

There stood two girls and a broken glass vase tilted to its side, one of the girls wore a high school uniform, short spiky dark hair and an expression that was a perfect dictionary example of the word 'annoyed.' Tatsuki Arisawa held onto her bag and Ichigo's and was honestly hoping for this to end already.

The other girl was quite different; she wore a different uniform, had long light-colored hair, and an embarrassed expression on her face that was covered in dried blood.

She was also transparent, utterly invisible to most people.

A ghost that only Ichigo could see.

"You disturbed her!" Ichigo said, pointing at the ghost.

But the skaters thought he was pointing at Tatsuki, which made the girl scowl deeper; she shook her head. "He is not pointing at me," Tatsuki said while pointing to her side with her thumb to correct them, but all it did was make the thugs look even more confused.

A vein bulged on Ichigo's forehead.

He stamped on the floor, making the skaters squeal again, "Say sorry, or I will send you to the other side!"

The still conscious thugs looked between him and then Tatsuki before Ichigo stomped again, and the thugs threw their head to the floor in submission. "We are sorry!"

"Now get out!" Ichigo let his rage control his voice, and the thugs cried again like sheep as they ran in fear toward their downed comrades, they took the unconscious skaters and ran out of the bridge's bottom without looking back.

Ichigo spat in the ground and dusted his hands before he turned toward the girls. "They shouldn't bother you anymore, I think." He sighed and glanced at the ghost of the girl that couldn't have been older than his little sisters, he had known her for quite a while, but it still bothered him every time he saw her face that was halfway hidden by the dried blood that sadly didn't do much to cover the gaping hole in her forehead.

"Thank you, its been mostly peaceful here since you two began to train here." The ghost bowed her head to him before looking at Tatsuki that was pointing at her again.

"What did she said?" Tatsuki asked. Tatsuki had been friends with the elder Kurosaki twins since they were all four years old, she was still a little sour about how the eldest of the two had lied by denying the fact to her all those years ago when Tatsuki had asked them if it was true that the twins could see ghosts.

Tatsuki couldn't see them, but when she glanced at the spot next to her where Ichigo had his eyes on, if she squinted her eyes, Tatsuki could find a dark silhouette of a girl forming in that spot.

Sometimes Tatsuki felt like she should reconsider her friendship with the twins; she was starting to see things just by being with them, but in all honesty, weird supernatural occurrences were the least of her troubles when it came to her best friends.

"She said thank you," Ichigo responded as he walked toward them, Tatsuki nodded, and when he was close, she pushed his school bag at his chest.

"Now you eat," she ordered; Ichigo grimaced at the idea, and Tatsuki sighed. "come on, I know you are hungry."

Tatsuki and Ichigo sat in the section of the floor that they thought was cleaner, Tatsuki had already eaten both lunch and dinner long ago while Ichigo had yet to open his bento box from his lunch. He hesitated as he took the orange box from his bag before Tatsuki groaned and took it from his hands.

"Hey!" Ichigo complained, but Tatsuki ignored him, she opened the box and then thrust it back into his hands.

"There, eat."

"Yesh, you ain't my sister, you know," Ichigo complained and regretted it a second later when Tatsuki visibly flinched.

"Well if you didn't avoid the poor girl I wouldn't have to do it," Tatsuki said with a hint of anger showing through her words, she hated the current situation that was happening between her friends, even though it had been going on for years Tatsuki's dislike for all of it didn't relent.

Since the accident that had left the twin's beloved mother in the hospital, Tatsuki's best friends had been avoiding each other in shame as if each of them believed it was their fault that all of it had happened.

Tatsuki had given up long ago about trying to get them to make up, they both were too stubborn, which had instead led to the situation where now Tatsuki was like a bloody messenger owl. She took care of Ichigo in the name of his sister, and she makes sure his sister didn't overwork herself to death with school activities on his name.

Thought for the last couple of years, she had spent more time with Ichigo even if Tatsuki still considered his sister to be her best friend… but being near her also meant being near the Gremmy boy that was in the same weird American History club as Ichigo's sister. That boy always knew how to push all of Tatsuki's button to get her in a murdering rage.

"What did you bring tonight?" the ghost asked taking both of the teenagers out of their own heads, the spirit was a relatively new member to their little group of misfits, she haunted this bridge for the lack of a better word and Ichigo had decided a couple of months ago to start training under the bridge after he cleared the place out of thugs.

Ichigo opened the box and scoffed; it was a simple meal of rice and broiled fish, but there, written with dried seaweed, was his name surrounded by a heart.

Tatsuki also saw it but didn't comment on it as the orange-haired guy ate his food. It didn't take him long to finish his meal; he had been starving even if he denied the fact, one of the things he was trying to get better at was to look cool and reliable.

Tatsuki didn't seem to think he was either when he stole a glance at the ever frowning girl, he frowned and packed his bento box. "let's go."

"Oh, you guys are leaving now?" asked the ghost, a little bit of feeling clinging to her voice that made Ichigo sigh and scratched the back of his head, he wasn't good with emotions.

"We coming back tomorrow like always, now just figure out how to get to heaven already." He said and began to walk away with Tatsuki while waving his hand.

"I will try!" the girl shouted and waved at the two of them, watching them go up the bridge and disappear.

The two split not soon after to go to their respective homes, leaving Ichigo alone in the quiet streets; he usually wouldn't be coming home this early on the evening on a school day, he preferred to stay up and train more even if he ended up being called a delinquent by idiots that didn't know any better.

He didn't have the time to fool around like them, fooling around meant the people he cared about would get hurt, and how was Ichigo supposed to ever look at his mom and his sister's face again if he failed them one more time?

A bear, the police had said.

A bear had attacked them in the river they said.

Ichigo knew better.

Ichigo opened the door of his house, hearing the hinges of it cringing loudly; he promised himself he would oil it before going to sleep, Ichigo checked the shoes in the entrance and felt a mixture of dread and relief when he noticed that his elder sister's shoes were still missing.

He didn't like thinking that she was still outside at this hour of the night, even if Ichigo knew the activities of that odd history club of hers had bizarre hours, but at the same time, it was not like he could complain to her.

She hated him.

He sighed and began to unfasten his shoes before he hesitated.

Everything was too quiet.

"You are late, Ichigo!" Isshin Kurosaki screamed his son's name like a warcry as he appeared from the hallway, catching his son by surprise with his feet and kicking the younger man into the wall.

"Do you know what time it is, delinquent?!" his father exclaimed over him, the man had his Hawaiian shirt and lab coat on, his hands over his waist in a posture of pure indignation as he stared down at his son. "Dinner in this house is at seven o'clock sharp every night!"

Over in the kitchen, the two youngest twins of the family heard the commission as both men of the house began to fistfight in the entrance.

"Please stop fighting; dinner is getting cold!" Yuzu said as she held the rice spoon in her hand, she was quite proud of tonight's dinner since Yuzu had cooked it all alone, something she didn't get to do often with her overprotective older sister always taking over the job.

"Let them fight, Yuzu." Karin, the older of the two, said with no regret as she offered her empty bowl of rice to her sister, "Leaves more for us."

Isshin fist flew toward his son's chest only for Ichigo to dodge and spin around underneath his father's guard, Ichigo grasped Isshin's extended wrist with one hand and the collar of his shirt with the other and pulled him headfirst into the ground, Isshin's head dug a hole in the wooden floor, and the man stayed there like a parody of a tree.

"That's it; I'm done." Ichigo grabbed his bag from the floor. "I'm going to my room."

"Oni-chan!" Yuzu called him as he left, but Karin grabbed her hand before the other girl could follow. "Leave him be, is dad's fault anyway."

Ichigo heard his father complain downstairs; the man could wail louder than an ambulance when he wanted, Ichigo went into his room and closed the door with a sigh escaping his lips.

He was beyond tired and couldn't wait to go to sleep already. But Tatsuki had been ever so kind to remind him he had homework to do, he threw his school bag on the bed and plopped his body on his desk's chair as a content groan came out of him.

He looked up the cream-colored ceiling; it was a tranquil, light color that he enjoyed. The roof of this room had once been another color when it was still his little sister's nursery, but his dad had repainted it after Ichigo had taken the place.

A black dot marred the ceiling's cream.

Ichigo didn't move, but he squeezed his eyes, trying to make up what was the black dot on the corner of the ceiling, was it a spider?

The dot sprouted wings and leaped into the air. Ichigo recoiled out of his chair first; thinking it was a cockroach going to attack him; it wasn't.

He knew the name of this kind of butterfly from reading picture books with his sister when he was younger, it was a rare one, and he had never seen it on this dark purple coloration.

"A black swallowtail butterfly?" he asked the little insect. He followed the fluttering being around his room, giving his back to the only window in it, for an instant too long as the butterfly danced in a circle around him.

Ichigo gasped.

Someone was there.

Ichigo didn't know when she had opened his window; he was on the second floor of the house, he couldn't believe he had not noticed her get in his room, she stood over his bed.

A woman clad in black.

"What the…" he whispered, his increasingly beating heart making it hard for his brain to finish the sentence. The woman was short, probably the same height as his younger sisters, she had shoulder-length black raven hair and wore a kimono of the same color.

Ichigo's eyes were chained to the katana strapped to the girl's waist.

He slowly shuffled his away from her, they had been in front of one another, but she had not looked at him, almost as if he didn't exist. But just as he got away to the side, she jumped off the bed into the floor next to him.

She still didn't look at him, she took another step and turned sideways, leaving her back exposed to him, and Ichigo felt a plan form in his head, he wasn't sure if it was the fear of an intruder or the annoyance of being ignored that got him the idea.

"It's close…" the woman's words triggered the fire in his chest.

Ichigo rose his leg.

Kuchiki Rukia had been in quite several odd situations in her life, but she was sure she had never felt this sensation before.

A foot on her butt.

She flew to the wall and crashed against a closet head first, her legs dangled above her, and she remained in that position as her brain tried to process what had just happened.

"How's that for 'close,' you burglar wannabe!"

Someone shouted from above her, and she found the orange-haired boy that had been in the room before staring right at her… almost as if…

Rukia righted herself on the floor, confusion evident in both her face and voice as she asked, "You, can you see me?" An even more crazy realization came to her. "You kicked me!"

"Of course, I can see you, you idiot!"

"Who you are talking to?" both Ichigo and the black-haired girl glanced over to the door where the youngest of the Kurosaki, Yuzu, was standing there with a plate of food in her hand and looking curiously at her older brother, "did another ghost decide to follow you around, Oni-chan?"

"Ghost?" Ichigo repeated the word and looked at the girl still on the floor with a stern expression; the girl didn't look like most ghosts did, they were always transparent and showed the injuries that had killed them.

The girl that was standing up from the floor of his room wasn't translucent at all.

"I'm going to leave your food here, Oni-chan, don't cause any ruckus with your new friend." Yuzu waved with a smile as she left the food on the floor, not wanting to come near the ghost since they always made the temperature around them so much colder.

"Normal people shouldn't see me because I'm…" the black-haired girl said, a gravity pressing onto each word that followed…

"A Shinigami."

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Makashiba Brigde**

A shadow loomed under the bridge's darkness, golden eyes shined in the abyss.

Crunch, rip, tear.

A soul, a meal, a feast.

The taste of the young girl's soul… it was wrong.

No, not right. Not right.

Not this soul.

The shadow threw the remains of the ghost's corpse on the damp ground, the body dissipated like dust dragged by the wind even if there was no breeze to do the job.

The smell, delicious scent, had clung to the ghost's flesh.

A trail.

Golden eyes rose to watch the ceiling made by the bridge's below.

Hunger, thirst, need, want.

The Hollow began to follow the trail.

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

"Care to repeat all that?" Ichigo asked, his left eye twitching dangerously.

The situation he was currently in felt like it had come straight out of badly drawn anime or worse; the worse part about it though was that he believed every bit of it, and that made him question his sanity.

The Shinigami was sitting in the floor in a seiza position while he sat on his bed, massaging that vein on his forehead that threatened to spill.

The Shinigami scoffed in annoyance. "I will explain it in a way that even a brat like you can understand…"

"Now," she began, raising her hand to show Ichigo three of her fingers. "There are three different types of souls in the realm of the living; the first is obviously the living humans like you and your family."

Ichigo nodded, and the Shinigami girl continued.

"The second type…" she said while lowering one of the fingers, leaving only two up. "Are the 'Pluses' which is how we call regular spirits or ghosts as you would think of them."

Ichigo's fingers grasped the sheets of his bed tightly, "What is the last one?"

"Don't be impatient! I was going there now." The Shinigami lowered one more finger leaving only one up. "Now, the other type… we call them 'Hollows.' Hollows are corrupted spirits that attack the living and the death indiscriminately to devour their souls."

A rock got stuck inside Ichigo's throat, a memory flashed over his eyes, his mom screaming, Nee-san shouting his name, red crimson eyes watching from the river's mist. He repeated the word in a whisper for himself, "Hollows…"

"Finally…" The Shinigami continued, "it is a Shinigamis job to guide both kinds of souls to where they belong, I can send pluses to soul society, you would call it heaven in your language, by performing a soul funeral, a Konso, on them. And our second job is to purify Hollows.

"Purify?" Ichigo asked.

The Shinigami nodded. "When I cut down a Hollow, I will cleanse the corruption of them, their souls, then go to soul society."

Ichigo frowned at her words, trying to get everything she told him into his head.

A smug glint sparkled from the shinigami's eyes, she grasped a section of her kimono in her chest and dug her other hand inside it as if she was going to retrieve something from it, "If you still don't understand, then I'm sure this will fix that!"

Rukia proudly took her sketchbook book out and opened in on a page that would be perfect for this; she had painted a pair of rabbit faces, on one side was a happy one to describe pluses and in the other was an angry one which represented the Hollows.

She was quite proud of her work as she pointed at it, she expected the idiot to bow to her greatness and cry in awe of her masterpiece.

Instead, she found the orange-haired boy tilting his head sideways while looking at her work. "Any questions?" Rukia asked, hoping the guy wasn't a total dimwit that he couldn't even understand this.

"Hmmm… Why does your drawing suck so bad?"

Offended beyond belief, Rukia stood in one knee, "You idiot, you just don't understand art and–"

The world trembled.

"What the hell!" the orange-haired boy jumped off his bed while Rukia clung to the ground as it shook. The howls of a Hollow made the walls shrink in fear, and Rukia snapped her eyes wide open in utter disbelief at how close it sounded.

How could it have come so close without her sensing it at all?

Destruction sang its symphony with the sounds of a wall downstairs shattering apart as the house quivered like a leaf. A girl's shriek accompanied the diabolical music.

"Karin!" Ichigo barely recognized his sister's voice; he had never heard her scream so desperately, with so much dread in her voice.

"Wait!" Rukia shouted, but the orange-haired boy ignored her and ran off the room through the door, Rukia cursed and followed, she was surprised with how fast the boy had run as she came out into the hallway and didn't see him and she only knew of his location because the boy shouted his sister's name again from the stairs.

She followed in his wake, down the stairs, into the living room. There was the kid's father lying on the ground, blood painting the wall behind the man, and a bloody wound leaking more from the man's shoulder.

Rukia wasted time inspecting him as she kneeled beside the man, knowing already that he was alive since she could see his body rising from the ground with each breath. She then noticed how the man was hiding someone else with his body.

Below the man was the unconscious brown haired girl that had brought food up to the room earlier. Rukia sighed in relief, thinking this was the sister the orange-haired boy was worried about, the girl was out but uninjured.

Now Rukia only needed to make sure the stupid older brother didn't get himself kill trying to do Rukia's job.

"Karin!"

Or so she thought.

The same girl's scream dug nails into Rukia's ears, she stood and ran, ignoring the gaping hole in the wall of the living room and going through the open door only to find the worse situation she could have imagined.

A humanoid Hollow towered over the street, its body was long, and its proportions stretched out with long slim arms that seemed like they could barely support the massive hands they held. Its mask resembled the skull of a fish with golden yellow eyes that were ignoring Rukia and instead only paid attention to the pray between his risen hand.

The Hollow gritted its fingers, and the dark-haired girl between them shrieked in pain.

"Karin!"

The nightmare from all those years ago had come back, Ichigo saw history repeat itself. His arms were shaking; his legs were trembling; he had trained for this moment from day to day, yet at the hour of judgment, his thoughts crashed town on a blind trainwreck, and the pipe in his hand remained unmoved.

A monster, a Hollow, toyed with his loved ones.

Karin's cry pierced the night sky.

He ran.

He smashed the broken pipe against the beast's knee, the impact resonating painfully throughout Ichigo's body, but the Hollow didn't even flinch away.

Frustration boiled down his veins, Ichigo clenched the pipe harder and rose it for another strike. "You mother–"

Ichigo first felt his stomach contract, his body lifting off the floor before he saw the webbed feet of the Hollow halfway into his body; it was hard to think about it. Hearing the bones crack, and feeling his lungs collapsed under the weight.

Ichigo didn't realize he had flown away until he crashed against the trash cans and collapsed in them, his bruised lungs crying out for every bit of air they could get. But he wasn't done.

He held tight onto the rubble around him with one hand, pushing himself up even when his bruised ribs begged him not to. Ichigo clenched his eyes close to move through the pain only for light to slither its way around his eyelids.

He opened his eyes and found golden eyes staring back at him.

And a massive arm falling.

Life flashed through Ichigo's eyes, reflecting itself from the glint of an object that came from the side, he saw his memories shine through the Shinigami's blade's edge, then the black blood of the Hollow splattering the world.

The Shinigami had cut deep into the beast's arm, stopping it from attacking Ichigo, the Hollow roared in pain and moved away, his uninjured fist opening and letting Karin fall to the floor like a ragdoll without strings.

"Karin!" Ichigo shouted and ran, the pain inside him long forgotten as he grabbed his sister. The girl was bruised, hardly breathing, her eyes closed and shaking her wasn't doing anything. "Karin, are you okay?!" he asked desperately.

"Calm down!" shouted the Shinigami who now stood between them and the Hollow, the Shinigami was taking long gulps of air and holding her katana harshly while the beast remained away nursing its wounded arm. "The Hollow has not eaten any of their souls; they will live!"

Rukia kept her eyes on the wailing Hollow; she was still confused and worried because she could clearly see the beast ahead of her but couldn't sense it at all, as if a stronger presence were muting the Hollow's one.

Like lighting, the realization hit her hard and made her gape her eyes.

Rukia turned to look at the orange-haired boy, focusing her senses on him. She hasn't noticed before. She had thought the boy had no spiritual energy, much like any other human would, but the truth was that this whole area was drenched with it, she was inside it.

"Hollows are attracted to beings with higher levels of spiritual energy…" Rukia said more to herself, but the boy heard her.

"Spiritual energy?" he asked.

"All this time, the Hollow wasn't going for your family…" Rukia said, and she saw understanding beginning to shine in the boy's eyes before she finished, "It was after you."

Pain blossomed, fireworks in her body as Rukia soared away, she cursed, knowing that she had been too distracted to see the attack coming.

"Shinigami!" Ichigo shouted, watching the girl crash and slide through the road away. Panic had mixed in his blood with guilt, but he didn't have the time to ponder over his emotions with the Hollow looming over him.

The beast's tongue slithered out of its mask, and Ichigo couldn't stop himself from chuckling, the giant fucker was already salivating over eating him, huh?

"You want my soul, don't you?" Ichigo finger coiled tighter over the metal pipe. The Hollow took a step toward him, and although every sense of his body told him to run away, Ichigo didn't move.

"Come and get it!" Ichigo shouted, charging at the beast just at it opened its maw and went in to take a bite at him

Ichigo rose the pipe and prepared to strike.

Teeth came closer. Golden eyes filled with hunger already savored the treat.

A human warcry, a monster's howls, war sang its song.

Ichigo's eyes burned holes into the beast's mask, staring at the creature as it came closer.

Until he couldn't see it anymore, a shadow appeared on his vision, a dark figure that met the charge of the beast.

Sword and teeth clashed, and Ichigo found himself astonished in a mixture of wonder and horror as he looked at the Shinigami, she and her sword were buried in the middle of the Hollow's jaws, its teeth sinking deeply into her flesh but her sword also sticking quite far into the beast's mask.

The Hollow cried in pain and shook its head, the beast opened its maw further and its teeth separated from Rukia's flesh when the Hollow retreated away with both of its hands hiding the deep bleeding gash in its mask.

Rukia knew she was in trouble; the monster had bit into her shoulder and her stomach, she barely could hold onto her sword, and her legs weren't responding anymore, and she fell into the ground, her blood ran away from her wounds so fast that a puddle was already forming underneath her.

Unless she thought of something, they were all dead, Rukia was only thankful the beast was too occupied wailing over its injuries and trashing away from them for it to finish the job, every second counted, and when the orange-haired boy ran to her and held her up, she got the stupidest plan that her mind could have ever come up to.

But probably it was the only that could save them both.

"Shinigami?! I'm sorry, I just–" the boy began, but Rukia interrupted him.

"Do you wish to save your family?" she asked, pushing every word of her mouth with a painful effort.

That got the boy back on track as he clenched his hand over her unharmed shoulder, "Yes, I will do anything!"

Ichigo stared into the Shinigami's eyes, even though time was on the essence the girl hesitated as if she was looking for something inside his eyes, she exhaled. A smile took over her lips before she spoke, "There is only one way… I will give you half of my powers."

She rose her katana, the tip of the blade now resting against his chest, Ichigo felt the need to flinch and get away from it, the sharp end of the sword was poking him just above his broken rib, but he didn't move away.

"Last chance to back out," the Shinigami said, Ichigo scoffed at it.

"Give me your powers, Shinigami." He grasped the blade, feeling it cut his palm as he pointed it at his heart.

The girl smiled at his conviction. "I'm not 'Shinigami,' my name is Kuchiki Rukia."

"Oh… Kurosaki Ichigo, that's my name."

The Hollow's scream stole their attention, and they found the beast already moving toward them, its long arms smashing the floor as if it was a gorilla coming closer and closer.

"Ready?" Ichigo asked.

The ground shook.

"Yes." Rukia clenched her hands over the hilt.

A shadow loomed over them. Massive arms were rising to smash them, golden eyes filled with hunger watching.

Rukia thrust her Zanpakuto, the sword ripping through clothes, flesh, and bones, flesh and clothes again as it poked its end from outside's Ichigo's back.

A breath went away, Rukia saw his pained face before black fire sprouted from the wound, she felt her powers being drained from her body to her hands and into the sword as the black flames erupted from Ichigo's wounds.

The light blinded her, Rukia squinted her eyes and dropped her sword to cover them with her arms. She felt the breeze and saw the looming arms of the Hollow falling on them from between her arms, and she closed her eyes in anticipation of the impact.

She had been too late, and they would die because of it.

Or so she thought.

The ground exploded, dirt and gravel flying everywhere, but Rukia knew she was still alive; she wasn't on the floor anymore, though. She stood, her body held tightly against another and an arm holding her upright by her waist.

She opened her eyes.

She gaped.

Ichigo held her, his bruises and injuries had disappeared even if his clothes remained dirty and trashed over his body. A strange bow made of black reishi with a bright blue edge that swirled in the air like they were made of flames glowed in his other hand.

"Sit." Ichigo let go of her and Rukia collapsed on her knees, her black kimono was drenched with her blood, but somehow her injuries were also gone even if her body still ached.

"How?" she asked, but Ichigo didn't answer.

The Hollow was looking at them again; it howled with its scream ripping the wind and making the trees shake. The beast charged at them.

Ichigo aimed his bow, his free hand touching the flames and manifesting a black arrow from them, he barely understood what he was doing, but it felt so natural almost as if gentle hands were guiding him.

The beast approached, its maw open ready to sink its teeth on him.

Ichigo nocked the arrow, his fingers clenching over its flaming feathers.

The beast jumped off the floor, his jaw a breath away.

Ichigo let go.

The arrow became a beam of black light with blue flaming ends that tore through the Hollow burning away its mask, flesh, and body, leaving only splattering pieces of its scorched meat that flew away carried by the momentum of the attack.

Reality was torn apart, the beam rose to the skies, a pillar for the world to know, a message for the universe to remember.

From the other side of town, brown eyes below a white cap glanced at the sky and saw it rise.

Kurosaki Ichigo.

Fifteen-year-old.

Hair: orange.

Eyes: brown.

Occupation?

Quincy.

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**And that is the end of the first episode of season 2. Welcome to plot-twist-land, please do not kill me! I know a lot of people will not like this plot-twist but I will be honest and say that even from the very moment I started brainstorming this work, I knew Ichigo would not be a Shinigami. that is why I put that disclaimer in the first chapter, **

**you may say, "but this plot-twist came out of nowhere!" No, it did not, episode 3 has all the clues about this, and everything will be explained further in the future too. I know many people were waiting to see the dynamic between Ichika and Ichigo as a Quincy vs. Shinigami kind of deal. But I thought that would have been a little too obvious and not interesting to read.**

**If you have liked Restart: Bleach so far, I hope you guys can give me at least the benefit of the doubt and stick around to see what I have in store for the Kurosaki twins.**

**Also, a shameless ad, my second story, REwrite: Adam, is also being updated today with its second chapter.**

**Question of the Episode: If you could throw a rotten tomato at any character of Bleach's face without any retribution, who would you choose and why? **


	12. S2: On The Strings Of A Puppet

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence.**

**Salutations everybody!**

**You are all probably about to cut my head off for the terribly long delay this chapter had, OMG! I'm incredibly sorry but this chapter just didn't want to write itself, I had to remake it a couple of times in its entirety for all the stuff I wanted to happen in this chapter to fit nicely and what I expected to be a week's worth of work turned into two months… yeah, it was a nightmare, but here it finally is! **

**I hope you guys can forgive me but I won't ramble more, here I present to you the newest episode of REstart: Bleach! **

**I hope you guys enjoy reading it.**

**And as always, I do not own Bleach!**

**Enjoy!**

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**Season 2: The Substitutes**

**Episode 12: On The Strings Of A Puppet**

**Hueco Mundo – The Upper World – Grand Fisher's Lair**

An empty husk.

A dead land.

A broken country.

A Hollow world.

There were so many ways to describe the desolate desert that sprawled beneath Aizen's eyes yet none genuinely capture the sense of loss that this place created inside him, a sense of hunger that made him almost think that perhaps he had so much more in common with the denizens of this place than what he realized every time he put a step on those pale dunes of lost souls.

Hueco Mundo.

Nobody knew who had given name to the realm where the Hollows subsisted, the name was already on use even on the oldest and most ancient of texts that Aizen had found on his search for the hidden knowledge of Soul Society.

But currently, it didn't matter.

He had more important business to attend to.

Although they would be less pleasant than reading antique scrolls. Aizen didn't mind. Life sometimes brought about things that were necessary but were not precisely enjoyable. Sacrifices had to be made, of course.

There inside that lair, made from the dilapidated stones smoothed out by the cruel winds of Hueco Mundo until they resembled a roofless room with the shape of an eggshell. A pair of crimson eyes stared hungrily at Aizen from the shadows.

The creature giggled, a sound that resembled more like the coughing of a dying bird inside a metal box. More Hollows with golden eyes joined their leader as it laughed, the looming shadows surrounding Aizen from all sides yet none yet daring to cross the empty space of illuminated ground that separated their hungry maws from the Shinigami in their folk.

Aizen was smiling.

"I have heard of you, Shinigami," said the leader of the Hollows, prompting Aizen to grin further.

"I hope what you have heard will convince you of my goodwill."

"I'm not stupid, Shinigami." The Hollow stopped laughing, its voice sounding angry but… Aizen also heard the fear inside its tone, like a caged beast against a wall. "I don't know how you convinced the elder ones to follow you, but I won't."

"I'm afraid the truth is quite simple," Aizen tugged his hand on the sleeve of his uniform and took out a little piece of paper from it, a photograph. "I offered them what they desired in exchange for their servitude. Much like I will do now to you."

"You don't know anything about me, Shinigami. Your kind is dumb and too stupid to even find their own heads after I cut them off." The Hollow laughed, and the rest of his followers joined him, creating a song that would have frozen the blood of more cowardly men.

Aizen only offered the picture with his outstretched fingers.

A pair of giant clawless red fingers came out of the shadows and approached, taking the photograph gingerly off Aizen's hands before retracting back into the darkness. Aizen saw the moment the creature recognized what it saw in the picture because its eyes sparkled in the dark.

"I know enough, Grand Fisher," Aizen said, giving a name to the Hollow.

"I remember this woman." Grand Fisher's greedy hunger permeated his wretched voice. "A morsel I never got to taste, her scent… I remember it."

"Do you know what kind of feast you forsook that night?" Aizen asked.

"All humans taste the same!" shouted another Hollow, but Grand Fisher only squinted his eyes as if he was waiting for Aizen to deny that fact.

"But we both know… that woman was not human," Aizen's words brought murmurs and whispers within the shadows. Grand Fisher's followers spoke to one another while Grand Fisher only watched, his calculating and hungry eyes never blinking as they held onto Aizen's.

"What was she?" Grand Fisher finally asked.

"A Quincy." Aizen's statement quieted the room, and he decided to explain just enough to entice the beast more, "They were an ancient race of humans with rich Reiatsu, one we thought extinct."

"You have satisfied my curiosity, Shinigami." Grand Fisher's clawless hands came to land on the sand beyond the dark, mere breaths away from Aizen's feet. "Yet you still brought me nothing, the woman is not dead, but her soul is long gone. I can't do anything with that other than dream of what she would have tasted."

"Pity, I thought you would be interested in knowing there are more."

The creature's eyes flashed with interest, and Aizen had to hold the laughter from his lips. "More?" Grand Fisher asked.

Aizen's hand went back into his sleeve, and from it, he took an old and battered hat. It was white and similar to those the military once used decades ago, it was beat-up and damaged, with a triangular-shaped hole in its cap.

But the smell radiating from it.

The scent.

The taste.

Gasp and shrieks of hunger came from the Hollows as their noses were assaulted by the tantalizing aroma, a Reiatsu so full of energy and life that it almost appeared as if a blue mist was coming out of the pure white hat.

"Do you remember it?"

"Where did you get that?" Grand Fisher's hand came forward, and Aizen relinquished the hat. The creature's limb retracted into the darkness, and Aizen heard and even felt the creature sniff the scent out of the hat like an addict getting a whiff of their drug after years of not tasting it.

"The woman was a mother, she left four offspring before you attacked her."

The creature's eyes narrowed down. "I remember… but they didn't smell any different than humans."

"Because their powers had not been awakened at that moment… but now?" Aizen left the question be answered by the scent attacking the Hollow's senses.

The creature began to laugh, but more suddenly than Aizen had expected, Grand Fisher seemed to choke on its own laughter and became quiet, "That human, the one that almost crushed me with its presence alone… he is also a Quincy, was he not?"

"Clever," Aizen said as If he were talking to himself, but he spoke loud enough to make sure the creature would hear the compliment and take it. "If you agree to follow me, you won't have to worry about that man's actions."

"Follow a Shinigami?" asked a Hollow from the crowd.

"Insane!" Another spat the word like a curse.

"Let's eat the Shinigami!"

"Just kill him, Grand Fisher!" demanded another.

"Kill the Shinigami!"

Their whispers turned into rambling chants that ate one another's coherency, leaving nothing but growls that reminded Aizen of a pack of starved rats more than of the creatures of human's nightmares

"Enough!" Grand Fisher shrieked, leaving only the sound of Hueco Mundo's wind outside of the lair's walls to fill in the void.

Aizen enjoyed theatrical silence from time to time, but even he could get bore. "follow me, and everything will go accordingly."

Grand Fisher began to snicker ominously before he gave his answer with a cackle fitting for a madman. "Yes, yes, yes! I will swallow their souls whole! I will eat the Quincy, and everything will go according to plan!"

The beast kept laughing, its minions soon following suit with the frenzy of hunger quickly turning them into a pack of howling, brainless monsters.

Aizen kept quiet, only smiling to himself. Knowing better than to tell the truth to simpler minds.

If everything went according to plan…

None of the Hollow would survive.

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**Shadow Realm – Silbern – Throne Room**

Yhwach glared at the chess pieces laid on the small table beside his throne.

There was nobody but him on the room, the long curtains on the back were shut, and the guards were beyond the closed doors, no Quincy could see what their emperor was doing, and he sighed before he tapped the table with one meaty finger.

The finger's tab send echoes throughout the empty room. From them came whispers, voices from the past, the present, the future.

Yhwach saw it all.

The chess board was overrun with black pieces, more than an actual game of chess would require or even use. There was not a single white piece currently on the board.

Yhwach clenched his empty hand, Reiatsu coming to his call as the blue feathers of energy sprung from nothingness and arrived at his command to the inside of his palm.

He opened his hand, and a singular white piece laid there.

A queen.

The emperor made space on the board's center, not caring as some of the black pieces toppled over before he rested the singular white piece right in the middle of the chess board.

"Do not disappoint me."

Unknown – Unknown – Unknown

Empty.

Hollow.

Surrounded by clear skies, laying in a puddle of endless water, Ichigo's lungs craved for air. He wasn't sure where he was, he was in a state where calmness and panic interlaced and kissed each other with tantalizing whispers.

It hurt, it didn't.

A pair of hands on his throat, tightening. His vision was blurry.

His limbs too weak.

"Ah…" Ichigo's last breath ran out of his lips. A dark figure sat on his chest, her dark hair falling around his face scaring the light away from hers.

You failed again.

You failed again.

No one spoke out loud, but he heard the words in her voice inside of his head; her hands further squeezed his flesh.

"Nee-san…" he tried to whisper, but the figure's fingers pressed his trachea shut.

You failed again.

You failed again.

Ichigo.

You failure.

He lost consciousness as he felt tears fall from her brown eyes and caress his cheek.

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**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

The burn inside his throat forced his eyes open, Ichigo threw the suffocating covers of his bed away, and desperately held onto his chest as he took a lungful of air.

Ichigo had to look around and stare at the curtains that gently waved under the soft breeze before his mind began to work again and he reckoned he was in his room, whatever had stalked his dreams now escaped his memories, but he still felt its weight in his mind like a sack of gravel.

Ichigo went to scratch the back of his head only for a sharp pain on his shoulder to stop him from raising his arm up, he went to move his legs to stand up, but another ache made its presence known as it hummed inside his thigh.

Ichigo groaned, his whole body feeling like he had been hit by a truck, everything seemed to throb the moment he dared to move a little, Ichigo couldn't remember when was the last time he had felt this hurt before

He didn't move more, just sitting there cross-legged on his bed, racking his brain, trying to figure out why he felt the way he did.

Yellow eyes.

A white mask.

Hollow.

The memories from last night hit Ichigo hard enough to make him gasp and flinch; he ignored the pain, and he leaped off the bed and bashed the door of his room open and ran out. Ichigo jumped halfway down the stairs and came like a storm into the living room.

"Ichigo?"

Ichigo stared at the gaping hole in the living room's wall, standing next to it wearing his customary working clothes was his dad, Isshin Kurosaki, with his hands resting on his waist and a curious expression on his face. They shared a glance before the older Kurosaki man hummed and went back to inspecting the damage to their home. "Incredible, don't you think?"

"What…?" Ichigo didn't finish his question as he took a step closer.

"The idiot could have had the decency of at least making another hole on the neighbor's too." Ichigo heard his younger sister, Karin, said from where she sat calmly at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal in front of her, she was waving her spoon around with a bored expression.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked, confused. Was Karin talking about the Hollow? Did she remember about it? How was she acting so coolly if she did?

"Oh, you probably didn't notice either, a drunk truck driver crashed on the wall, can you believe it, Ichigo?" his father said and then chuckled before he continued, "all this commotion and none of us woke up! I knew Masaki, and I made such amazing children! To be able to stay asleep through all this!" the man laughed proudly with his hands resting over his waist.

"That ain't a good thing, you idiot, old man." Karin pointed her spoon at their father, who responded by crying out her name.

Karin had to stop eating to instead put her foot on their father's face to prevent him from smothering her. Yuzu came out of the kitchen with a bowl that was still soaked with bubbly soap and an expression that was filled with a cocktail of both concern and amusement. "Stop fighting on breakfast hours!"

The older Kurosaki kept whining, Karin cursing, and Yuzu seemed like she was having a hard time not giggling, but Ichigo wasn't paying much attention to them, his eyes still bound to the crater in the wall.

"Where is Nee-san?" He asked out loud before his brain could think better of it.

Silence met his question; all eyes were now on him.

"Don't know, don't care," Karin responded after a moment, and Ichigo grimaced.

The older Kurosaki man stopped play fighting and chuckled awkwardly, getting away from Karin's dangerous foot before he scratched the back of his head with a smile that was way too forced even for him. "Well, you know her, always waking up so early and so excited to go to school, right?"

Ichigo couldn't do more than stand there, guilt-ridden, his father was still trying to pull off that smile while Karin was very obviously avoiding looking at Ichigo at all. Yuzu's previous happy disposition seemed to have gone down the drain with her lips turned into a thin line, and her eyes downcast and firmly lodged onto the half-cleaned bowl in her hands.

With all the fear from last night and the confusion this morning, Ichigo had forgotten the little unspoken rule he had accidentally made in the house. Something that had come unexpectedly but that he still couldn't blame anyone but himself about it.

Never talk about Nee-san with him.

Yuzu and their dad had always taken the rift between the elder twins as something temporal, something Ichigo would one day manage to figure out how to solve and mend that wound between the two.

Karin, on the other hand, had never forgiven Ichigo for what had happened to their older sister, or mom. Ichigo had never spoken about it with Karin, they never really did talk about dangerous topics like those. But Ichigo could see the reflection of his own self-hatred inside of Karin's eyes.

It had been Ichigo's fault. All had been his fault.

How could he mend that rift if he was too weak to do anything about it…?

He was…

No.

Ichigo looked down to his own hand, his palm from where that bow had sprung from nothingness last night.

He had killed a monster like the one that hurt mom and Nee-san.

"Ichigo?" Ichigo's dad called him and broke Ichigo from his inner thoughts. Ichigo made a fist, clenching his fingers tightly until his nails were stabbing deep into his palm.

He wasn't weak anymore.

"Dad?" Ichigo said with his eyes narrowed down with determination and a fire building inside his lungs.

The man jumped to stand straight as if he had been called by a drill sergeant, "Yes?!" Isshin squeaked, unsure of the sudden change in his son's demeanor.

"Today… I will talk with Nee-san."

The silence in the room was so loud it was ringing inside Ichigo's ears. His dad was looking at him with his mouth almost touching the floor, Karin's eyes seemed like they were about to pop out from her skull and go for a walk on their own while Yuzu…

The sound of a bowl shattering in the ground broke the spell, and Yuzu yelped and leaped away from all the shards scattering on the ground. Isshin was panicking while Karin only groaned and let her head fall with a loud thunk against the table.

Ichigo smiled, for the first time in a long time, the grin on his lips was real and honest. He finally had what he needed, maybe not enough for his sister to forgive him for his sins but perhaps to accept him back into her life now that Ichigo could protect her like he was meant to do.

He would protect them all.

And while his family pranced around, the image of a dark-haired Shinigami quickly slip away from his mind with a last "thank you," said in a whisper too low for even his own ears to hear.

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**Human World – Karakura Town – Karakura High School**

The bells sang at ten and forty in the morning. A mild wind made the curtains of the classroom flutter. The human children interacted with so much life into them, with weird handshakes, loud voices, and strange movements that made Rukia feel like an old soul as she peered over from behind her little book.

She watched two girls next to the window that were talking. Rukia couldn't hear nor cared for what the conversation was about, but she instead paid attention to their mannerisms so she could learn. The one with short, spiky black hair seemed annoyed and dangerous, yet the one with long orange hair and a happy disposition didn't seem scared or bothered by it.

Curious.

Rukia hoped to gain some more insight, but at that moment, she felt a presence finally arrive in the classroom. The boy, no, Ichigo had entered the room. It frustrated her to no end that she needed to be so close to be capable of sensing him.

On the other hand, Ichigo didn't seem to notice her at all as he walked right past her desk and went towards the girls at the window, Rukia arched an eyebrow when they began to talk as curiosity filled her thoughts. Maybe she could use those girls as cover if they had a connection to him.

Ichigo turned toward her and Rukia thought for a moment that maybe the idiot had finally realized she was there, but he didn't seem to see her at all, he walked up to the desk right next to her and dropped his bag before turning back to his friends as if he were to go back.

She didn't have time for this.

She grasped a black marker from her purse and wrote a message on her hand that even the idiot would understand before she poked him in the shoulder, probably a bit harsher than she needed to do.

"Are you Kurosaki?" Rukia asked before he could take a step away, she made extra sure to elongate her words and put on a high-pitched tone as her book on modern society deemed polite to do when greeting people, you have, ehem, never met before.

"Uh?" he said before he turned. "What do–" Ichigo jumped off his seat and pointed at her, a panicky expression accompanying the trembling of his finger, but no words came out of his mouth, and Rukia felt a vein twitch dangerously above her eyebrow.

How stupid could this human be?

The two girls he had been talking to came toward them, the orange-haired one waved at Rukia and stood in front of Rukia's desk before she turned toward Ichigo, "Kurosaki-kun, this is Kuchiki, Rukia-san. She is our new classmate, isn't that great?"

Rukia smiled at the girl, now wishing she had paid more attention to remembering their names when she had first met them earlier in the day.

The stupid boy was still pointing at her, and the girl with short black hair took a glance at both with curiosity filling her eyes, "Do you two know each other from somewhere already?"

"Eh, no…" Ichigo said, totally not helping their case with how much his words trembled when they came out of his stupid mouth.

"Oh! We are desk neighbors!" Rukia shoved her hand toward him like if she wanted to shake hands, but she made sure to tilt her hand enough for him to see the message written in her palm.

Ichigo paled, and Rukia quickly stood up, accidentally startling the orange-haired girl before Rukia grasped the boy's hand and hauled him out of his desk, "Oh! It is so great that we are desk neighbors! You should totally show me the school now, let's go right about now!"

Rukia dragged him outside as quickly as she could without leaving him time to complain, luckily the stupid boy didn't try, and he let himself be directed to the stairs and then up.

The door to the roof was thankfully unlocked, and Rukia went out in the open space with Ichigo in tow.

The roof of the school was a long empty space surrounded by tall fences to keep anyone from falling, the door was on a small square-like protrusion of the building that had one of those modern metals balls above it filled with water, Rukia had no idea what it was for, but she didn't have time right now to have fun.

She closed the door and pressed her palm against the cold metal before she said, "Kai!" Light trailed around the edges of the door, accompanied by a watery sound.

"You didn't have to threaten me like that, 'make a scene, and I kill you?'" he quoted her message with a groan before he pointed at the door. "What did you do?"

She took a couple of steps away from the door and faced him. "I locked it," Rukia responded without using her modern accent anymore. "Now we can talk without anyone bothering us."

"You are finally talking normal."

"Normal? How rude. I spent the whole night learning the speech pattern of this place! I did an amazing job if I do say so myself." Rukia crossed her arms with pride while Ichigo groaned and rested his hand over his forehead.

"What, no, you… never mind that's not the point," Ichigo said before pointing a judging finger at her. "Why are you here? I thought we did your job yesterday, what exactly are you doing sneaking into my class?"

Rukia frowned, turning away from him and looking up the sky before she spoke, "Did you think there was only one Hollow in the world? My job is to purify any Hollow that dares come into this area, not just that one."

"And what does that exactly have to do with you being in my class?" He asked.

Rukia sighed; at that moment, she felt like she should regret every single instance of her life, every choice and path she had taken in the past that had landed her right here, talking to someone so, well, so… stupid.

"Well, Ichigo," she started, raising a finger and waving it around like a stick before she turned to look him in the eyes to chastise his stupidity. Rukia opened her lips, gulped air and…

"I would like an answer to that too… Shinigami."

A dark figure stood above the staircase entrance, the sun behind it hiding its features, leaving only her voice as Rukia's only clue of who it might be.

Ichigo openly gaped with utter surprise on his eyes, his mouth hanging slightly ajar as if the words he wished to say had gotten caught halfway up his throat.

"Nee-san?" the title that came out of Ichigo's mouth made Rukia more confused and worried about the situation.

The newcomer leaped off her spot, landing next to Ichigo, she appeared to ignore her so-called brother to entirely focus on Rukia instead. Rukia quickly inspected the girl, and to many questions came up to Rukia's mind for her to count.

The girl was just a tad taller than Rukia was, with long black hair that reached up to her waist crowned by a white military looking cap that didn't match at all the school uniform they both shared.

Thought at first glance, Ichigo and the new girl didn't look similar. It was when the girl arched an eyebrow as if she was still waiting for Rukia's answer that Rukia saw the similarities. Although the girl's face had a more delicate and feminine curvature to it, it was almost identical to Ichigo's, and she also shared his eyes and facial expression.

"Who are you?" Rukia whispered more to herself; she had been confident all members of the Kurosaki family had been accounted for last night when she wiped their memories of the Hollow attack, but she had never seen this girl before.

"I imagine you are not in a good spot to be asking questions," said another new voice right behind Rukia, making her gasp and jump away.

A blonde boy that was as tall as Ichigo and wore a school hoodie under his uniform's blazer gave her a lazy smile, he was standing just a breath away from where Rukia had been before, and the Shinigami couldn't figure out how the kid had managed to get there without her noticing at all. "How…"

"Gremmy?" Ichigo said out loud, and the blonde boy took one of his hands out of his hoodie's pocket and waved at him.

"Now," said the girl with long black hair, "give me two reasons, Shinigami, about why I shouldn't kill you right now." The girl took a step forward, but then Ichigo grasped her shoulder.

"Nee-san, what's going on?!"

Ichigo's sister slapped his hand away without looking at him. "Stay out of this, Otouto, this is none of your business."

Ichigo seemed to be confused for a moment before he went to grasp for her again, "Hell yeah, it is!"

His finger never reached her. Instead, Ichigo's sister grabbed his wrist with one hand.

Rukia couldn't do more than watch in slow motion as Ichigo's shoes left the pavement, his body flying through the air like a weightless sack of rice before he crashed against the floor on his back in front of his sister.

"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted. She took a step toward him but then five fingers that felt more like murderous snakes seized her by her arm, the blonde boy, Gremmy, held her with his sick smile still hanging of his face.

"I imagine it is too late, Kurosaki-san, your brother already knows too much," Gremmy said to the girl.

Rukia shook her arm in hopes of dislodging the boy's hand off her, but he wouldn't give, she turned sideways, fist high to meet his face, but he dodged down with ease and swiped her feet off the ground.

Rukia landed on her butt, and before she knew it, the boy pushed her face-first to the floor and then sat on her back while holding both of her hands with just one of his like she was the most comfortable cushion around. "Get off me!"

"Now you are going to answer some questions," Ichigo's sister walked up to her and leaned over Rukia, but Rukia ignored the girl and instead focused on seeing if Ichigo was okay.

He was still on the floor but getting up and shaking his head.

"I haven't seen one of you before," the girl said to Rukia, pure sneer and almost something like disgust dripping off her every word. "To the point, I almost started to believe you bastards didn't exist… yet here we have you, Shinigami, messing up my job and my family all in a night's worth of time."

"Nee-san, stop!" Ichigo stood and took two steps toward his sister before he suddenly stopped on his tracks, his hand still outstretched to grasp the girl, but his eyes unfocused and wide as if they were looking at something that wasn't there.

The grip on Rukia's wrist lessened, and Rukia turned her head to look at Gremmy, who also seemed to have gone into a sort of trance while he watched the horizon to their right. Even Ichigo's sister wasn't paying attention to Rukia anymore, though the girl didn't seem as distracted as the guys were, Ichigo's sister was also staring at the distant with irritation on her eyes and her lower lips tightly held between her teeth.

"Bastards can't wait even five minutes." Ichigo's sister exhaled, clearly annoyed, and no longer interested in Rukia.

"What is going on?" Rukia asked, but the answer came faster than she would have wanted when her Hollow Locator began to vibrate inside her skirt's pocket. "Hollow," Rukia whispered to herself before her eyes opened like plates.

Ichigo had felt the Hollow before her Phone-like Locator had caught the scent of it. His sister and this Gremmy guy had done it too… were they all the same?

What were they?

"Shit," Ichigo's sister cursed and spat on the ground before she pointed the finger at Rukia and waved it in circles. "Gremmy, deal with this mess, I will take care of the Hollows."

"I imagine you still want to try your plan." By Gremmy's amused tone, Rukia wasn't sure if his words had been meant as a question or a statement, but they still made the elder Kurosaki groan.

"Just deal with it, I will hold the east ones off," Ichigo's sister said before she jumped to the top of the fence with the same ease a Shinigami would have, surprising Rukia.

But Rukia's mouth was left hanging ajar when then the longer-haired girl bent over the fence and pushed herself off with a mighty leap that made her disappear from Rukia's eyes as if she had never been there.

The weight on Rukia's back disappeared, and suddenly she was gently pulled up by Gremmy, who helped her stand up with an innocent smile on his face as if he had never been the one holding her on the ground, to begin with.

He had his hands back on his hoodie's pockets, his shoulders calm and relaxed even though a tense silence overtook the three remaining people on the rooftop like a suffocating ichor that threatened to drown Rukia and Ichigo.

Gremmy's single chuckle broke the silence. "I imagine you two have some questions."

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**Aizen's machinations are coming to Karakura! Yhwach makes a move, and Ichika and Ichigo know about each other OH MY. This chapter opens a lot of doors, and many of them will be answered in the next one. **

**One thing I want to say though, there is no actual omniscient narrator in this story. When Ichika is narrating, she is narrating from her point of view and telling things how she thinks they are and work, but Ichika is not perfect. The same goes for others when the third-person narration is going on. Gremmy may explain things how he believes they are but he may be entirely wrong. **

**If you have liked REstart: Bleach so far, please leave a review! Reviews really help me feel motivated to keep writing and it was thanks to them that I was able to finish this chapter rather than giving up. **

**Now for the questions!**

**Last Episode's Question: ****If you could throw a rotten tomato at any character of Bleach's face without any retribution, who would you choose and why?**

**I want to throw a tomato right to Yamamoto's ugly bald head! I don't hate him but he is so frustrating, he is a terrible leader and acts more like a brainless figurehead most of the time. I don't know how he has kept up Soul Society from destroying itself for millennia.**

**Question of the Episode:**** I'm feeling a bit romantic right now… What's your favorite Ship in Bleach, and why? **


	13. S2: One Foot On Each Ship

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence.**

**Salutations everybody!**

**Episode thirteen is finally here! With Corona Virus striking the world right now, I hope everyone is safe in their houses with a good cup of tea and a good book to read or a fanfiction, haha.**

**Well, I won't bother you, I know you guys have waited for this chapter long enough, and I'm sorry for the wait. I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I loved writing it.**

**And as always, I do not own Bleach!**

**Enjoy!**

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**Season 2: The Substitutes**

**Episode 13: One Foot On Each Ship**

**Human World – Karakura High School – Rooftop**

At one side of the rooftop stood Ichigo and Rukia.

Ichigo's body ached. His older sister hasn't been gentle at all when she had taken him down to the floor. He wasn't bleeding nor had anything more than scratches, but his stomach especially hurt from the impact.

He didn't care.

Rukia wrists pulsated with the passing of each second, right where the blonde boy had held them tight. Rukia hasn't checked, but she wouldn't be surprised if a bruise had started forming out on her skin.

She didn't care either.

Right now, right there. There was only one thing Rukia and Ichigo were focusing on.

One man.

Gremmy.

On the other side of the rooftop, Gremmy sat lazily in a school chair that neither of the other two teenagers could figure out where had the blonde boy got it from. At one moment, Gremmy had been standing just like them, and then suddenly, he had sat on that chair as if it had been there all along.

Gremmy was smiling.

And that grated Ichigo's nerves.

"Start talking, what the hell is going on!" Ichigo demanded, he took a step forward with his clenched fists trembling beside him.

"So angry…" Gremmy chuckled but quickly stopped and sighed. "But understandable, I imagine we don't have much time for a lengthy explanation."

Rukia crossed her arms.

Although she was suspicious of the blonde boy, and still quite offended for the way he treated her, her curiosity won this round. "Maybe you should start by telling me how did you know I was a Shinigami. We don't often tell the living about our existence."

Gremmy's smile was directed at her. Nothing changed about Gremmy's expression, yet Rukia still felt like his grin was more like a smirk. "Anyone with enough Reiatsu would be able to see your kind… Shinigami are not the quiet kind of people." He chuckled, which only made Rukia feel a cold sweat go down her spine, but the blonde boy quickly reigned himself in, almost as if he was trying to contain himself.

"But that doesn't matter right now," Gremmy said. "Have you ever heard of the 'Quincy,' Rukia-san?"

Rukia frowned. The name sounded familiar…

She gasped.

"Spiritually aware humans," she said, now looking at Gremmy with an entirely new viewpoint. "But I learned in the academy that they had gone extinct three hundred years ago."

"There is a shinigami academy?" Ichigo asked but was ignored by the others.

Gremmy nodded, his smile taking a dangerous edge as he said, "I imagine they did not tell you how that happened?"

Rukia gulped, if Gremmy was a Quincy as this path of questions seemed to suggest… would it be safer to say the truth or lie? Both answers twirled inside her mind; each one was describing the pros and cons to her.

Rukia sighed and clenched a bit of her skirt inside her fingers.

She wasn't a liar.

"The Shinigami… we… we went to war with the Quincy and killed most of them."

Ichigo was looking between Gremmy and Rukia. He couldn't understand much of the conversation and was too confused to remain quiet. "What are you two talking about? Who are the Quincy? Why did the Shinigami kill them all? What it all has to do with us?"

Rukia glanced at him, the pieces of the puzzled fell on their spots, and she finally understood what was going on. She felt the cold sweat of dread travel down her cheek as she took a step back from both men.

Ichigo could only look at Rukia with confusion when suddenly Gremmy chuckled and got up from the chair with his hands deep in his pockets.

"The answers are all pretty simple," Gremmy stated with a shrug before he took one hand out of his pocket and pointed at Ichigo. "You, Ichigo, are a Quincy. Much like your sister and me… and the reason why Shinigami hunted us down in the past is the same reason Kurosaki-san had been waiting for one of them to appear in Karakura Town."

"What do you-" Ichigo started, but Gremmy went and talked right over him.

"Without a Shinigami taking care of the Hollows in town, Kurosaki-san and I had to take care of them, but as you already know, Kuchiki-san. Our method is not the most beneficial for the… let's call it the spiritual ecosystem."

Rukia frowned, and Ichigo seemed like he still wanted to say something, but Gremmy kept on with his explanation, "When a Shinigami 'kills' a hollow, in reality, they purify the Hollow's soul and those of the innocents pluses the Hollow may have consumed. Sending them all to Soul Society… but when a Quincy kills a Hollow, we do so in a literal way, we erase them from existence, and that also includes any souls that Hollow may have eaten."

Ichigo felt the air leave his lungs.

If he and his nee-san were Quincy, what had he done to the Hollow last night? The monster had tried to hurt his family, had almost killed Rukia, but what if that thing had eaten some other innocent person before? Had Ichigo killed those souls by destroying the Hollow?

Gremmy was looking directly at him with a smile, which only helped Ichigo feel colder.

"Do you even understand how dangerous it is to eradicate Hollows completely? It could destroy the balance of souls!" Rukia shouted as she took a step forward toward Gremmy, which thankfully made the blonde boy stop looking at Ichigo.

The blonde's grin grew, and he shrugged unabashedly. "I imagine a Shinigami would worry more about that than about the living humans attacked by Hollows."

Rukia frown deepened at that statement. Yes, she knew before she came here, Karakura had been all but abandoned by the Shinigami in charge of protecting the sector, but she was different…

But how do you convince someone that should and probably does hate your kind that you are not like the rest with simple words?

She was left without words to defend herself, and the silence seemed to give a response that she didn't mean to the other two in that rooftop.

"Rukia?" Ichigo called out her name, but before she said anything, Gremmy started speaking again.

"But this is a useless conversation, in the beginning, we did kill a few Hollows, but Kurosaki-san forbid it."

"Nee-san did?" Ichigo asked.

Gremmy nodded. "Our current method of dealing with Hollows is to scare them back to their world. We trash them around enough and then allow them to escape. Simple and easy, but not the quickest. It has especially become troublesome now that Hollows are appearing much more frequently since last month." Gremmy took both of his hands off his pockets and rose his palms toward Rukia in a somewhat symbolic way before he continued.

Rukia frowned at that last bit of information if Gremmy was telling the truth then the raise on activity had gone entirely unnoticed by her. She gasped as she suddenly remembered how all three Quincies had been able to detect the appearance of a Hollow much faster than her Hollow locator had been able to.

"That is why Kurosaki-san was waiting for you, Kuchiki-san." Gremmy interrupted her thoughts.

"What exactly do you want with her?" Ichigo asked. Rukia noticed how the younger Kurosaki had started to move to stand between her and Gremmy. In most situations, Rukia would have felt offended but with how weak she felt right now with most of her powers inside of Ichigo…

"After last night's events. I imagine Kuchiki-san is too weak to fight Hollows on her own. That's why your sister ordered me to give Kuchiki-san this offer."

Gremmy rummaged his pockets as if looking for something, then giggled when he got a piece of paper out of his left one. He opened it and scoffed before saying. "'We Quincy will beat the crap out of the Hollows and allow you to cut their pretty faces in our territory.' End quote." Gremmy chuckled on the last bit and pocketed the piece of paper back inside his hoodie.

Ichigo smiled, his posture relaxing a bit. "That does sound like Nee-san."

"What's the catch?" Rukia asked. Although the offer was tempting and it was basically what she was going to tell Ichigo to do before the Quincy hijacked their conversation earlier. She didn't believe Ichigo's older sister would just help Rukia out of the goodness of her heart. Both the older Kurosaki and the blonde boy appeared to dislike Shinigami too much to work with Rukia without getting something out in return.

Gremmy's smile gave nothing away as he said, "That's for Kurosaki-san to tell you herself."

"Hard to agree when I don't know what I'm getting into," Rukia said with her arms crossed and an arched eyebrow.

Ichigo turned to her. "Nee-san may be a bit rough on the edges, but she has always meant well, we can trust her."

Rukia wanted to agree with him. Rukia already knew Ichigo was a man that kept his heart on his fist and acted for the good of others just by watching his actions, but the elder Kurosaki had come across as a completely different beast.

A darker one.

Gremmy confused them both when he took out his flip phone, opened it, and waved it as to draw attention to it. "Either agree or disagree quickly. Kurosaki-san is not the patient kind, and if she doesn't receive a text soon, she will start killing Hollows."

"What?" Rukia shouted while Ichigo looked perplexed.

"Are you using the Hollows like hostages?" Ichigo asked, utterly confused.

Gremmy's smile seemed to turn sinister as the shadows cast by the clouds above ate away the light coming through his hood. "I'm only the messenger, Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo couldn't believe for one second his sister would do that, and he planned to say precisely that to that blonde snake. "I don't beli-"

"I accept," Rukia interrupted him. Anger spilling off her voice.

Gremmy got both hands on his phone and began writing a text, ignoring them entirely when Ichigo got closer to Rukia to whisper to her. "Nee-san would never do this."

"I don't know her," Rukia nodded, at least accepting a little of what Ichigo was saying, mostly to calm him down. "He may be bluffing, but I don't see any reasons to take any risks."

"And… sent." Gremmy said with a chuckle on his words. He pocketed his phone and took a couple of steps toward the pair. "Kurosaki-san will hold off the large group of Hollows where she is while we take care of the one south."

"Shouldn't we go help Nee-san first?" Ichigo asked just before Rukia herself could ask that same question.

Gremmy's smile didn't give them much hope about the answer he was going to give them. "Kurosaki-san can take care of herself, and this also gives us the perfect opportunity to try something I imagined could work."

"And what is that?" Rukia asked while she was already taking a red glove out of the pocket of her skirt. Ichigo eyed the glove with curiosity but didn't say a thing, yet.

"Yesterday, Kuchiki-san, gave most of her powers to Kurosaki-kun," Gremmy nodded at Ichigo. "I wonder what that makes Kurosaki-kun now… is he a Quincy with Shinigami powers? A Shinigami with Quincy powers? Something new?"

Rukia frowned but didn't say anything, Ichigo, on the other hand, scratched his head and sighed before saying, "Does it matter? We don't have time to waste."

Gremmy smile enlarged to the point that it was creepier than ever. "Why don't we find out?"

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**Human World – Karakura Town – Chisaki Park**

A cloudy sky above, and the grassy plains of the park beyond, in any other day, I would have considered this spot a perfect place for an afternoon nap. I had never been to this particular park before, and while I sat there, it made me happy to know that my little town still had so many new views to offer me every day.

I felt my phone vibrate.

I pulled it out of my skirt's pocket and grimaced when I saw Gremmy's smiley emoji that he had put himself as his contact's name on my phone. I had tried changing it countless times, but somehow it always reappeared again. Putting extra care into protecting my phone or improving my password never helped either…

Gremmy had no understanding of privacy.

I opened my phone to check the text. I read it out loud, "'They agreed to your terms.'" I exhaled and closed my phone before I groaned and complained out loud, "Don't you bloody say 'They' like you are making my otouto an item with the Shinigami."

Then my seat vibrated.

Well, trembled with rage as it woke up more like it.

I looked between my legs to find the scaly, purple back of the Hollow I had been sitting on shake a little, the muscles beneath the skin moving as their owner returned to the land of the conscious from the nice nap I had given it.

Growling had me looking up to the second Hollow, who was standing on his massive front legs. The monster had the appearance of a green bull jacked up on testosterone while the one underneath me had looked like an armored purple cat before I blew up his limbs. There were two other Hollows in a similar state of limblessness resting around us that weren't whining as much as my seat was.

The bull Hollow and I were a reasonable distance apart, but it was smashing the ground like it was getting ready to charge. The cat beneath me had finally opened an eye, and I waved my fingers at it with a smile before I pressed my other hand on its scales.

"Thank god you won't die as long as I don't break all of your pretty face," I said to it, not expecting much of a response, but the cat Hollow growled at me.

The bull Hollow howled, its rage sounding like the scrapping of metals.

The cat Hollow's scales beneath my fingers began to fizzle with blue light.

The bull Hollow smashed its front leg on the ground, an explosion of dirt announcing its charge.

The cat Hollow's eye opened, horror clear in it as the light consumed his back.

The cat Hollow howled in desperation, it smashed its own face on the ground and jumped in the air to try and get me off him, but all he did was point me directly toward his compatriot.

The bull Hollow advanced.

And I smiled.

Blue fire erupted underneath me, the force of the explosion throwing me in a direct course toward the charging Hollow. A howling mess of guts and viscera with a head was all that was left in my wake.

Fist first.

Hollow's head first.

They met.

The head cracked.

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**Human World – Karakura Town – Abandoned Building**

The old commercial building's entrance was missing the glass doors that had once sealed it from the outside world, now only a pair of crisscrossed yellow tapes held their place, working as well as a rotten bandaid if the various graffiti were any indication of how good those tapes were with keeping unruly ruffians out of the abandoned structure.

Rukia glanced at the dark entrance. The afternoon light seemed not to want to come further than the building's lobby. Rukia then looked down at her Hollow Locator in her hand.

Various little dots were blinking in the direction the elder Kurosaki had gone.

But none here.

"My locator is not getting anything from here," she said to the two men surrounding her.

Gremmy didn't react to that information, still lazily smiling with his hands on his pockets and watching the building's entrance like it held some kind of secret.

Ichigo, on the other hand, leaned closer to Rukia to get a look at her Locator's screen.

"Ain't that just a regular phone?" he asked as he pointed the finger at it.

Rukia scoffed at his ignorance and put a protective hand over her Locator in case the dumb boy tried to take it. "No, is not, you idiot. This Locator is top-notch Soul Society technology."

Ichigo chuckled at that and bend to one side and the other to get another glance at the Locator while Rukia made her best to hide her precious locator away from him.

"Looks like last year's model too." Ichigo's comment got a chuckled out of Gremmy, which only helped to make that vein burning up in Rukia's forehead finally snap.

Rukia took full advantage of how close Ichigo's head was to smack him right on it with her locator. "I'm going to beat you right to last year if you-"

A Hollow's screech, like the scrapping of metals, stopped her from finishing her threat.

"The Hollow is here." Gremmy turned to smile at Rukia and Ichigo before he nodded toward the entrance. "I imagine you two want to dispose of it quickly so we can move to help Kurosaki-san."

The mention of his sister sobered Ichigo up, he frowned and went forward. "Let's go," he said as he pushed one of the yellow bands out of the way and went inside the darkness.

Rather than follow, though, Rukia glanced around, inspecting the empty street around her before she pocketed her Locator and raised her hand that was now wearing a red glove.

She turned toward Gremmy, who seemed content with waiting beside her and said, "Can you mind my body?"

The blonde boy didn't show any change in his demeanor nor… actually, he wasn't doing anything, and it was creeping Rukia. She sighed and placed her hand with the glove palm first against her forehead.

She closed her eyes.

And pushed.

Her body was released away from her fake human one, which began falling backward. To any regular living human, it would have appeared as if Rukia had just collapsed over Gremmy's arm. But Rukia's real body, wearing her Shinigami uniform and with her Zampakutoh hanging off to her side, was now ready for action.

"This…" Gremmy began, and Rukia arched an eyebrow, seeing Gremmy missing words was strange. Gremmy chuckled and suddenly pinched the cheek of Rukia's false body, "doesn't look very convenient."

"Don't pinch my cheek!" Rukia blushed and swatted Gremmy's offending hand before saying, "and is not my fault. I wasn't planning of ever using a Gigai, so I never went to the trouble of getting some Gikon."

Gremmy smiled innocently. "Neither of those words means anything to me."

Rukia groaned, but before she could explain anything, Ichigo's voice came from the darkness inside the building, "Come on!"

"Just leave it inside." Rukia spat the words with a defeated tone. She went into the building, followed by a still chuckling Gremmy holding her fake body like it was the corpse of a murder victim…

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**Human World – Karakura Town – Abandoned Building**

Ichigo had found a set of stairs. He was halfway up before he began hearing echoes of Rukia's voice behind him. He stopped and waited for them.

The first he saw of them was the light coming off a flashlight in Gremmy's hand, Ichigo covered his eyes with his arm until the blonde boy pointed the light away from him.

"Ichigo, don't go too far ahead without us," Rukia said, she got up the stairs and even went past him as she took the lead. Ichigo noticed how she was now wearing her Shinigami uniform, and the girl had a hand ready and holding the hilt of her sword.

Ichigo went to follow her, but Gremmy's hand landed on his shoulder and stopped him. Ichigo turned to look at him, and by a miracle of God or a curse of the devil, the blonde boy wasn't smiling.

"What?" Ichigo asked, and Gremmy raised his hand, holding the flashlight closer to Ichigo. Ichigo clenched his eyes, expecting the blonde boy to point the light right at him, but instead, Gremmy pointed it upwards to the ceiling while he held the flashlight directly at Ichigo's eye level.

Ichigo was confused for a moment until he saw something glint underneath Gremmy's hand.

A cross-like pendant was hanging off a chain.

A chain wrapped around Gremmy's fingers.

"Uh?" Ichigo's brain didn't have time to process much more before Gremmy pushed the pendant closer to him.

"Grab it," Gremmy ordered.

Ichigo frowned. "What's that?"

Ichigo's answer came from above. With their world trembling and a slab of concrete falling down his head.

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**Human World – Karakura Town – Subterranean Parking Lot**

Ichigo opened his eyes to a splitting headache, he was laying on the ground, and the first thing he did was move his hand over his forehead, to the point where he felt like someone was poking him with a hot iron.

His fingers touched something wet and sticky. He pulled his hand to his eyes, and Ichigo found them covered in red.

Blood.

He groaned and pushed himself into a sitting position. He was surrounded by rubble and darkness. The only source of light was a ray of sunshine coming directly from above him. Ichigo was in some sort of subterranean room, large enough that he couldn't see the walls within the darkness.

He pressed a hand in the ground to get up but found something stabbing his palm. He grabbed the object and brought it closer to see it was the cross pendant that Gremmy had tried to give to him. Ichigo then inspected the spot where he had found it. He frowned when he saw the floor marked with a white line of old paint.

There was another line poking out of the rubble at his other side too…

"A parking lot?" Ichigo wondered out loud. He gave another cursory look around, but he couldn't see any apparent entrances to the parking lot. Maybe it had been blocked off after the building had been abandoned years ago?

But Ichigo didn't have time to wonder about that. He got up from the ground, cupped a hand to his mouth, and shouted, "Rukia! Gremmy! Oy! Anyone!"

He waited for a response.

And got one he didn't want.

Something stepped on the ground of the dark parking lot where the light didn't reach. A meaty wack like someone pounding meat against a kitchen board.

Then came the growling, almost artificial sounding… Like a dog over a radio.

And then a pair of golden eyes shined in the dark, far enough that they appeared more like the dying lights of a couple of lamps.

"The Hollow?" Ichigo asked nobody as he took a step back, feeling and hearing his shoe push away the small pieces of rubble loitering the ground behind him.

The Hollow's eyes disappeared in the dark, but the beast still growled as if to taunt Ichigo. The sound echoed around the parking lot and made it hard to discern from where it was coming from.

Ichigo glanced around him, hearing the creature move and growl more.

He was breathing hard, each gulp of air striking his lungs painfully. Ichigo's right arm was trembling with how much force he was clenching his fingers over the cross pendant, and a trickle of sweat traveled down his throat, the liquid much colder and uncomfortable to his skin than the blood dripping down his eyebrow.

Yet his hands remained empty.

Unarmed.

How had Ichigo summoned that bow of energy last night?

He couldn't remember the feeling, the intent, nothing. His head was in overdrive, yet he couldn't come up with a way to bring back that weapon, and he was certain he was sure as dead if he didn't figure out before the Hollow decided to attack.

"Ichigo!" Rukia's voice coming from above interrupted his thoughts.

Ichigo glimpsed upwards to find her kneeling with one hand holding onto the edge of the hole he had fallen while Gremmy was standing beside her strangely with a worried expression and no creepy smiles laced over his lips.

But before Ichigo could respond, he heard another sound coming from behind him.

The Hollow's growl.

Ichigo leaped forward without thinking as a green clawed paw swiped the rays of light coming from above.

"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted again, but he didn't have any time to pay attention to her as those terrifying golden eyes chased after him. The Hollow went through the light, showcasing first its beaked, bird-like white mask and then it's green crocodile looking body as it went after Ichigo.

Ichigo ran in the darkness, hearing the creature's meaty steps behind him until Ichigo smashed chest first against a wall. "Shit!"

He punched the wall and turned around.

The yellow eyes were already there.

Ichigo threw himself sideways and felt the ground shake as the Hollow smashed against the concrete wall he had just vacated.

"Ichigo, fight him!" Rukia shouted as she jumped down the hole with her Zanpakuto ready in her hand.

"How!" Ichigo screamed back as he leaped out of the way of the Hollow's golden eyes again and heard it crash and dig a hole in the ground. Ichigo was back on the floor and crawling away with his heart beating so hard it almost hurt.

Rukia had no answers to give. She ran toward the sound and was swallowed in the darkness, the only light being the Hollow's eyes that guided her as the creature rose from the floor to stare directly at her direction.

Rukia stopped, digging her feet into the dust and grabbing the hilt of her blade with both hands.

She may have been weaker than before.

Tired and aching.

Scared…

But she was still a Shinigami.

The eyes approached.

The shadows grew a monstrous beak, a glint in the darkness as its dangerous tip charged closer.

The Hollow came…

…With blue light on its tail.

"What?" Rukia startled took a step back as she watched the darkness disappear, running away from the flashing blue arrow of pure Reishi that had nailed the beast on its back. The Hollow pulled away from her shrieking in pain as its front legs rose high up as if they were trying to grasp the sharp arrow on its hide.

Ichigo stood gasping for air as if his lungs were drained. His eyes frowned, one closed with the dripping blood covering it. And in its hands was a Reishi bow, made of pure blue light encompassed by black fire.

"Hey, chicken face!" Ichigo shouted at the still screaming Hollow. "Your fight is with me."

The Reishi arrow began to disperse, covering the Hollow again with darkness as the creature stopped to groan and began to snarl with rage. Its golden eyes were back on Ichigo, and the ground trembled as the beast moved toward him.

Ichigo aimed his bow and pulled the string, creating another arrow before firing it, but the golden eyes moved sideways, and the Hollow dodged the bolt, which did nothing more than illuminate the beast's side for an instant before flying away.

Ichigo shot another one, but the creature dodged again with no effort, the golden eyes kept coming closer, and Ichigo yelled in frustration, "I can't hit it!"

"The cross," Gremmy said, he sounded calm, yet somehow his voice reached Ichigo clearly as if he had spoken next to him. "Hold the cross and think of the weapon you wish to wield."

The Hollow was upon Ichigo.

The light of his bow illuminated the creature's mask, its beak wide open to take a bite off him.

Ichigo dodged left with his muscles filled with the frustration and anger that he felt rather than fear, because of everything the blonde bastard could have told him…

"What's that half-ass explanation!" Ichigo shouted as the ground trembled when the Hollow's face smashed against the floor he had been standing on. T

he creature seemed to have gotten its whole head stuck in the hole it had created, but Ichigo didn't take the chance to fire an arrow.

Instead, he was watching his bow.

He had never taken archery lessons, never even visited the archery club in middle school, and hell, Ichigo was sure his high school didn't even have one either! That he had hit the Hollow once was a miracle.

The Hollow trembled as it tried to pluck its beak off the ground.

Ichigo rose the pendant on his free hand.

On his right, he had the reishi bow, its center shining with blue energy while its edges turned into flames darker than the shadows themselves.

On his left was the cross-like pendant resting on his palm.

"Gremmy, how the hell does this work!" Ichigo called, but the only response he got was the shrieking of the Hollow.

"Ichigo just shot it now!" Came Rukia's voice.

Ichigo pulled the bow and aimed.

The Hollow broke off a piece of the ground, one of its eyes appearing and shining its malevolent yellow sight right on him.

Ichigo stared back into the hungry eye.

Hate.

Fear.

Rage.

The Hollow tugged once more, and the ground gave up.

The creature broke off the dirt with a shriek, a scream of both hunger and fury. It turned sideways to go back and finish its job, to go and butcher the insolent orange-haired brat that had dared hurt it.

The Hollow hurried toward the teenager, the dangerous bow he had been wielding had disappeared, and only an orb of blue light rested between both of his hands.

An offering.

A snack.

A taste of the living.

It opened its beak, its threatening tip shining in the blue light.

A blue light that came closer on its own.

A light that grew in size enveloped in dark flames that became an edge.

A claymore of light and darkness.

The Hollow's last sight was that of its own body. It took the creature a moment to realize the top half of its head was flying in the air, the rest of its body falling to the ground as its dead legs gave up on liftings its weight.

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**Human World – Karakura Town – Subterranean Parking Lot**

"Ichigo, what did you do?" Asked an exhausted Rukia, but she was more horrified than tired as she walked, barely holding onto her sword while she came closer to the deceased Hollow.

The beast's corpse was wilting away, turning into ashes that were then carried far by an inexistent breeze that did nothing to help with the gravity of the situation they thought they were in.

Ichigo's eyes were also locked into the Hollow's dead body.

He had wanted to defeat it.

He had wanted to…

To…

He couldn't look at it anymore.

Instead, his eyes glanced toward what his hands were holding on for dear life.

The giant sword was almost as big as he was tall. Even its hilt was ridiculously long, with it being nearly the size of his arm. The claymore was straight with double edges and a pointy tip like a medieval sword. Its core was entirely made of blue light, while black flames that kept on dancing on his eyes made up the blade's edges.

The sword's weighed less than a feather…

But none of that was important right now.

Ichigo had murdered another Hollow… another soul.

"Ichigo!" Rukia had come closer to him and grasped the neck of his uniform's blazer. In any other circumstances, it would have been ridiculous to see the small Shinigami trying to pull him by his neck when she was at least three heads shorter than him, but now?

Then suddenly, Gremmy appeared from thin air between them. Rukia gasped and let go of Ichigo while Ichigo himself took a step back.

Gremmy's smile finally came back upon his lips. He nodded toward where the Hollow's corpse was and said, "I imagine you two would like to take another look."

They did.

The Hollow's body was still disappearing, turning into nothingness.

Yet the darkness was running away from it.

A bright white light was coming off the corpse, illuminating the faces of the three teenagers who watched. The ghost of an old bald man suddenly appeared as it was released from the Hollow's body, the man smiled before he floated high over the teenager's heads and vanished into the air.

All of their eyes had forgotten about the Hollow's corpse, which was now finishing the process of becoming nothing but a memory. They had their heads up and staring at the ceiling where the ghost had gone.

"What?" Ichigo asked.

"I can't believe it," Rukia responded.

Suddenly Gremmy's hands landed on both of their shoulders, startling Ichigo and Rukia into glancing at him. The blonde boy was smiling wth an honest expression that almost appeared alien on him.

"It is settled," he said.

"What?" Ichigo repeated.

The blonde boy's eyes came to him, and Gremmy's smile broadened.

"Congratulations, Kurosaki-kun, you 'purified' the Hollow." Gremmy started his voice showing a hint of joy that felt fake coming off his lips as he continued and said, "I guess we could say that you have one foot on each ship… A Quincy that can purify Hollows like a Shinigami."

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**And this concludes the episode! **

**What is Ichigo? Is he a Quincy with shinigami powers? A Shinigami with Quincy powers? Something new? This is a big question that will be slowly revealed as time goes on. **

**We also finally get a little teaser of Ichika's thoughts! **

**Do you want another teaser for the next chapter? SPOILER ALERT! Ichika is coming back as our main narrator starting the next chapter! I tried to avoid having much of her for this first few episodes of season 2 because I wanted to keep her thoughts a mystery. I have to be honest and admit these chapters have been quite hard to write, especially the fights. **

**I'm not entirely sure the first in third person came as I wanted, and I would love to know if you guys liked them. **

**Now for the questions!**

**Last Episode's Question: ****I'm feeling a bit romantic right now… What's your favorite Ship in Bleach, and why?**

**It is probably Obious already, but I'm an IchiRuki fan. I love Ichigo and Rukia, and I think they make the best couple in the series. I do not dislike the people they ended up with, Orihime is adorable, and Renji is a badass, but I still think Ichigo and Rukia paired up better together. **

**Question of the Episode:**** Let's go with a funny one. If you were forced to choose one of the Gotei 13 captains as your gambling partner for a poker night. Who would you pick and why? **


	14. S2: The American History Club

**Warning: This work is rated T for a reason; there is Violence, Blood, Drama, and the mention of serious topics like suicide and the afterlife that merit this rating. This work of Fanfiction will never have any material that would send it over the edge to an M rating like Lemons or highly descriptive scenes of violence.**

**Salutations everybody!**

**Episode fourteen is here!**

**I know this does not have much to do with REstart: Bleach itself, but OMG, have you guys heard? The Bleach anime is coming back! We will finally see the Quincy on the screen! And also, they are making an anime and a serialized manga for Kill the Witch! I am oh so excited about this! **

**I love the Kill the Witch one shot and I can't wait to see what the manga has in stores, I'm also really excited about Bleach coming back though I hope Tite does rework the ending a little so it doesn't feel as rushed as in the manga. Sadly I don't expect he will…**

**But a girl can dream, right? **

**Anyway, here is Episode fourteen of REstart: Bleach! I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**And as always, I do not own Bleach!**

**Enjoy!**

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**Season 2: The Substitutes**

**Episode 14: The American History Club**

**Hueco Mundo – The Upper World – Grand Fisher's Lair**

"Where am I?"

Those were the first words that he exclaimed, he who was the lost soul of a man once known by the name of…

Sora Inoue.

He remembered standing beside the praying altar with his picture inside his little sister's apartment just a second ago; he watched Orihime smiled as she gave her morning prayers to it.

He had hovered beside her, watching that old picture of both of them in the altar where he had his chin-length brown hair slightly better brushed than regular, his grey eyes sparkling with joy and he wore his best blue suit while his adorable little sister Orihime was going for her first day of middle school.

That had been long ago…

Sora Inoue had died so long ago…

Three years… three years of watching over her, but now…

Sora was kneeling in a desert's pit. The sky was drowned by darkness, yet a giant moon brought so much light that the sand beneath his knees almost shined like pearls. There wasn't any wind to bring either heat or cold, and sharp pointy stones created walls around the pit that made it look like he was in the middle of the maw of a giant skeleton.

Sora pushed a hand on the sand and got up with a groan. As a ghost, he had forgotten what been chained by gravity felt like, yet now it seemed he was bound again by it inside this desolated place.

Was he even still on earth?

He didn't know.

Suddenly, someone laughed. The person's voice sounded metallic as if it came through an old radio. The laughter was so sinister that it brought a cold sweat against Sora's nape.

Sora glanced around him, trying to find the source of the chilling sound, but he wished he had not.

From the darkness beneath the fang-like stones, a myriad of golden and crimson eyes began to open and stare at him. There was so much hunger and hatred present inside those malevolent orbs that Sora felt his knees give up and drop him back to the ground.

"Welcome to my lair," said the radio voice from ahead.

A pair of massive golden eyes elevated away from the rest. They were larger, brighter.

The owner of said eyes came closer, just to the edge beyond the darkness. A pair of large crimson arms with clawed fingers, the side of Sora himself crossed the border between the shadows and the moonlight.

"W-who are you?" Sora asked.

The creature chuckled. "I am your new best friend. So tell me, what do you think of the name… Acidwire?"

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**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

The clock in the microwave marked the eleven of the night.

It felt so much later than that.

The coffee pot was brewing, the sweet aroma coming off it kept tickling my nose while I stood right in front of it, watching the dark liquid boil and dance around inside the transparent pot.

Coffee, a morning drink which helps with wakefulness and energy, I knew it was quite unhealthy to brew and plan to drink a cup of it this late on a weekday night when classes were waiting for me in the morning, but I craved the waste of time, and the excuse of brewing a cup was the first thing that had come to my head.

Today.

Today was shit.

I sighed, leaning my head closer to the pot and grabbing my hat by its cap to push it further down on my head.

Today was shit.

And it wasn't over yet.

Thinking about earlier just made my mood drop lower than it already was…

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**Human World – Karakura Town – Chisaki Park**

**A couple of hours earlier…**

The sun was still high and mighty over the sky, only a couple of clouds daring to defy its presence here and there at three of the afternoon.

I had my arms crossed over my chest while I watched the Shinigami… Rukia was her name. I had to start calling her that if I wanted our dealings to go smoothly. Thought at the time, I wasn't thrilled with her.

Rukia was going through the park, finishing up the piles of whining flesh I had left behind. I had made sure only to leave the heads of the Hollows intact to prove my point that I would take care of all the fighting for her.

The beasts could do nothing more than whine in pain while Rukia was walking around with her Katana stabbing them in the head.

And Ichigo was following her along like a lost puppy.

A vein was threatening to pop in my forehead.

I bit my lower lip and sighed, taking my eyes away from them before I did something I would regret… like accepting Gremmy's idea.

"Ichigo has proven to be quite a useful tool," Gremmy said, his smile and eyes still locked onto Rukia and my brother while he kept his hands in his pockets.

"Don't call him a tool," I said.

Gremmy chuckled for an answer before he turned to look at me.

"My theory was correct." Gremmy nodded toward my otouto before continuing, "Ichigo can purify Hollows. We could use the opportunity and get rid of the Shinigami."

I dislodged my arms from each other, so I could bring my fingernail close to my mouth and bite on it. I hated how much I liked the idea.

Rukia was a wild card, I knew little of how Shinigami operated, but I knew they had a more prominent organization backing them up, working with Rukia meant the possibility of her higher-ups getting in our businesses and taking an interest in us.

Shinigami had once hunted our kind. It was a dire risk to my family to leave one of them alive around us.

But if I got rid of Rukia, then it would mean having to force Ichigo to fight Hollows…

"No," I plugged my nail off my mouth and turned back to watching Rukia finish the last of the Hollows as I kept talking, "we can keep her on a tight leash if necessary."

Gremmy sighed. "Even if we do, consider the good Kurosaki-kun could do, your brother won't remain quiet about it either. He is much like you."

I turned toward him, anger burning in my eyes, but before I could give voice to my thoughts, someone else barged in our conversation.

"I have purified the last Hollow!" Rukia ran toward us, a proud smile on her face that was so similar to Yuzu when she wanted to show me how good she did on a test. It was hard to keep a straight face when Rukia reminded me so much of my little sisters.

I had to stop looking at her face.

Her uniform thought I could look at it with ease.

And hate it to my heart's delight.

Ichigo also came right behind her. I had not noticed before how much dust and dirt seemed to have gotten stuck on his uniform, and he also had a poorly made bandage over his forehead, and some brown gunk stuck around his eye that was probably a lousy attempt at cleaning blood from his skin.

"Good," I said with a firm and authoritative tone that stole the smile out of Rukia's face. "I'm taking it then that we have a deal, right?" I asked her.

Rukia frowned, but before she answered me, she turned her head sideways to look at Ichigo, who was right behind her. Ichigo had his eyes locked on me, but I was purposely ignoring him.

He glanced back at her, and it felt like they had a conversation with just that glance, and it almost made me want to choke Rukia.

I exhaled through my nose and closed my eyes.

Calm down, calm down, Ichika, do not kill the useful tool, do not kill her when she is still useful.

"I'm interested in your deal but," Rukia started, and I opened my eyes to find her staring determined at me as she said, "I want to know what's the catch, I know you want something out of me for helping me."

I arched an eyebrow at that but quickly smiled.

Clever girl.

"You don't have to worry, Rukia," I said, getting an arched eyebrow from her that made my grin a little bit more honest. "What I want is very simple."

Rukia crossed her arms, and I could hardly stop a chuckle from escaping my lips.

I pointed my thumb toward me. "We Quincy will deal with the Hollows as you already know, we will fight and defeat them for you," I repeated the first part of our deal to make sure she progressed in that Shinigami mind of hers how good it was for her, no risks, no effort, we would be doing all her job.

She only had to do an easy thing for me.

"I understand," Rukia said as she frowned slightly and nodded, which made me think of Karin, and I had to blink a couple of times to get the image of my little sister out of my eyes.

It was hard not to glare at Rukia as I said, "All I want from you is one thing. You get to purify all the Hollows we face… except one."

She took a step back while Ichigo bent his head sideways like he always did when he didn't understand.

"What do you mean?" Rukia asked.

"There is one Hollow in particular that I have been hunting," I said, bringing one finger up to emphasize the number. "When I find it, all I ask of you is that you look the other way while I kill it."

Rukia seemed shocked at my statement, and it was so hard to hold the chuckle in my throat that I didn't. I led it out and hid my mouth under my hand, which only seemed to help make Rukia more uncomfortable.

She seemed like she wanted to say something, but I was quicker and said, "Is a terrific offer, don't you think? No effort required... though if you do plan on staying around our high school, I will have you joining our club too, to keep up appearances, you know?"

What would she do now?

I smugly waited for her response. If what I heard and seen from her so far was any indication of her personality, I expected her to be a snotty by-the-book kind of girl. I expected Rukia would fight my offer.

But she surprised me.

Rather than anger or resentment, what I saw in her eyes was some sort of understanding. They flashed surprise, horror, and then grim acceptance before she quietly accepted with a nod.

Rukia offered me her hand.

This time, I gave her an honest smile and clasped her hand gladly.

"I accept your deal," Rukia said, a smile teasing her lips, but her brows still furrowed with determination.

I smiled and said, "Then, welcome to the American History Club."

"American History Club?" Rukia repeated with an arched eyebrow, at least her smile was still up.

I shook her hand and chuckled. "School didn't let me name it the Quincy Club."

Ichigo gave a cocky smile and came forward, "Well, I'm just glad this fight is over, don't you agree, nee-san?"

He walked next to Rukia and close to me. I lost the smile and frowned, questioning what he was planning before he completely took me by surprise.

I saw it coming, but my brain didn't process it.

Ichigo stood next to me, his arm high up before it came down to try and wrap itself over my shoulders.

So friendly.

So innocent.

I released Rukia's hand and took a step back fast enough to dodge his arm. I was glaring at him, trying to keep my face as controlled as I could, but my otouto didn't seem to understand what was going on and looked at me worriedly.

Rukia glanced between Ichigo and me but said nothing.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head awkwardly and asked, "What's the plan now?"

I didn't look at him but to Rukia instead when I began talking, "Unless any other Hollow appears before the end of classes, I will take Rukia to our club's room after class to talk things more thoroughly."

I finally glanced at Ichigo with a frown. He flinched under my sight, and I only hoped he wouldn't try doing anything more stupid as I said, "You, on the other hand, are going to forget everything that has happened in the last two days and go back to your life as a simple high school student, are we clear?"

Throughout the years, I had found that Ichigo always kept his emotions clear in his eyes, one only had to take a look into them to see what he felt even if he lied or tried to hide it.

For the first time, if someone had asked me right now what my otouto felt as he stared at me open-mouthed…

I wouldn't have been able to answer.

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**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

I sighed again.

I let my head drop, and my chin hit my neck. I gave up on staying straight, and my back bent, and my elbows came to rest in the kitchen counter as they held my weight.

The coffee maker dinged and sang a cute little tune to mark that the pot was ready, yet I didn't move from my position.

I felt heavy, tired.

But not in a physical sense.

"Onee-chan, are you okay?" Yuzu's voice startled me up, and I almost hit my head on the coffee pot.

I turned toward her voice and found her in her pajamas standing in the entrance of the kitchen, looking at me with evident worry in her expression. I noticed she was holding something in her hands, and then I remembered what I had asked her to do earlier before I started brewing coffee.

My silence did nothing to help as Yuzu called out for me again, "Onee-chan?"

I shook my head to get my wits back and slid my hand over one of my eyes as I sighed the weight of my thoughts away. "I'm okay, just sleepy, you know... still got some homework to do.

I hoped she would buy my lie, but I don't think she did.

Yuzu nodded, her worried expression never leaving her face, and came into the kitchen before she offered me what she was holding.

"Thank you, Yuzu." I smiled fondly at my little sister and took the folded yellow pajamas off her hands and put them on the counter beside the coffee maker. I was thankful she didn't ask me why I needed a pair of her pajamas for as I turned back toward the coffee pot.

I hoped she would leave and go to bed, it was past her bedtime already, but instead, I felt a pair of slender little arms slither around my waist.

I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of Yuzu resting her cheek against my back, the warmth that she radiated…

But I was the older sister.

It wasn't Yuzu's duty to make me feel okay.

It was my job to keep her safe.

I grasped her hands and delicately unclasped them, pulling her arms away from me before I turned around and gave her a kiss in her forehead and a fake smile that I hoped looked more genuine than it felt.

"Time for bed, little hooligan," I said, getting a tiny grin out of Yuzu's adorable face.

I saw her leave and get up the stairs before I served myself a cup of coffee, I held the cup between my hands and had its warmth seep into my flesh for a little before I simply put it back on the counter next to the folded pajamas.

I took the pajamas and left.

I wasn't feeling it for the coffee anymore.

I went up the stair and to the left. I hesitated on the door to Ichigo's room. One hand holding Yuzu's pajamas tightly to my chest while the other hovered a few breaths away from the doorknob.

Come on, did I need a pep talk?

I sighed in front of the closed door.

This was nothing special, I cleaned this room every Monday, so there was absolutely nothing special about it right now. Now, that Ichigo was inside was nothing particularly strange either because it is his room, of course.

I closed my eyes, and finally grasped the doorknob.

Yet I didn't open it.

That this was the first I would enter into his room while he was inside was absolutely, totally, one-hundred-percent nothing special!

Just get in.

Do the thing.

Get out.

You can do it, Ichika.

I nodded to myself, took a deep breath. I opened my eyes and felt a fire ignite inside my lungs and travel through my veins into my muscles until I did it.

I turned the doorknob and bashed the door open hard enough to make it rebound against the wall and make the only apparent occupant of the room squeal like a girl as he jumped off his bed.

"Nee-san?!" Ichigo screeched, he stood over his bed and against the window of his room with one leg and his arms up in the air while staring at me with a mixture of fear and confusion.

I went inside the room with a frown covering my features. I made it a point to ignore Ichigo, and I was happy he didn't try to strike any conversation as he did his best to look like the weirdest tree ever.

I went up to his wall closet and then grasped one of the doors and slid it open.

Most of Ichigo's clothes were jam packet on the bottom of the closet, a disorder and untidiness that I would have never accepted in my household.

And the culprit was none other than the bewildered Shinigami that had replaced the top shelves of the closet with a futon mattress and was now looking at me with her eyes wide open like a pair of plates.

"What's going on!" Rukia shouted. She seemed to ignore the glaring issue of a random, and uninvited girl to boot, girl sleeping in an innocent teenage male's room. Instead, she glanced between us twins as she looked for an answer. I also noticed she was still wearing our high school uniform like I predicted.

At the same time, Ichigo also recovered from my scare and instead pointed at Rukia inside the closet and shouted, "What are you doing in my closet!"

Rukia crossed her arms and looked at us like the answer was so obvious. "I need to stay close in case a Hollow appears."

"That doesn't explain why you are in my closet!" Ichigo repeated his question, which only made my eyebrow twitch.

I regretted not drinking that coffee.

Before either of them said another word, I pushed Yuzu's pajamas right onto Rukia's face to quiet her up, leaving her protests as nothing more than muffles that left the way open for me to say my thing.

"I won't allow a woman," I started, putting a big emphasis on the last word as Rukia took the pajamas out of her face and quietly listened. "to sleep in the same room with my brother… but you are right, since I also want you nearby and you seem to have no issue with sleeping in closets since you slept here last night…"

"She did?!" Ichigo gasped in horror. I kept ignoring him.

"How did you know!" Rukia exclaimed and was also ignored.

I kept talking over them instead "…I have prepared a bed in my closet for you to use and these pajamas."

Rukia glanced at the pajamas between her hands before she looked back at me, she was blushing, and I couldn't understand why until she asked, "are this yours?"

"No," I said matter of factly, "Those are Yuzu's, mine wouldn't fit you."

Rukia frowned. "Yuzu… one of your little sisters?"

Ichigo was quiet and glancing between the two of us.

"Is there a problem? You look around the same age as her." I said Rukia while I crossed my arms under my chest and waited. I was hoping to get done with all of this so I could get to bed and hopefully try to sleep. Although I didn't expect I would be able to.

But my words seemed to hit a nerve as Rukia snapped and shouted, "How dare you! I am much older than all of you, brats!"

Rather than try and deny her stupid proclamation, I bent my head slightly to the left and gave her a look.

She was the same size as Yuzu and Karin, a couple of inches smaller than me, and I was already one of the shortest in our classroom.

I glanced at her chest and raised an eyebrow.

Rukia couldn't be older than Yuzu with that body and flat chest of hers.

I pushed my arms under my chest a bit further up to accentuate my breast.

And smiled.

"What's that smile, suppose to mean!" Rukia shouted with her face redder than a tomato. Ichigo was also overheating as he sat back into the bed.

I win.

But as enjoyable as it was to annoy our resident Shinigami, I was already running on fumes and didn't have time to waste. I grasped her wrist and pulled her out of the closet.

She tried to complain until we got out of the room, and then she went quiet as if she was worried about waking up someone.

The rest of my family was sleeping, yes, but with dad's snores muting all the other sounds in the house, I wasn't worried about leaving her nagging, although I was thankful that she didn't try.

I wasn't her babysitter.

We went into my room without issues.

The first thing I did was open my closet and wave at it with my hand to showcase the perfectly made bed inside. I went to leave, so Rukia could change in my room while I did it in the bathroom, but she grabbed my arm by the elbow.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked. I knew she wasn't talking about the sleeping arrangments, but I deliberately misunderstood her question.

"I already told you, I won't allow any woman to sleep with-"

She interrupted me, "You know what I meant."

I frowned at the tone she used. "Is none of your business, Shinigami."

She flinched at my use of the title instead of her name, but Rukia didn't relent. "Ichigo is my friend."

That statement made me chuckle. "You have known my brother for approximately two days, why do you think you understand anything?"

"I know him enough to know that he cares about you." Rukia said as she raised her voice in frustration, "I don't understand why do you have to fight!"

* * *

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* * *

**Human World – Karakura Town – Chisaki Park**

**A couple of hours earlier…**

"You, on the other hand, are going to forget everything that has happened in the last two days and go back to your life as a simple high school student, are we clear?"

The moment I finished those words, Ichigo's brain seemed to shortcircuit, he was staring at me with her mouth slightly ajar and his eyes wide open in pure shock.

Gremmy knew not to get involved and kept smiling beside me, but Rukia gasped.

Ichigo got out of his stupor and took a step forward, Rukia was still on the way, and he put his hand on her shoulder and nudged her away before he stood in front of me.

"You think I can leave and go back while I know you and the others are risking your lives against hollows?!" He demanded with an exasperated tone of voice and a shake of his arm.

I arched an eyebrow at his words. I didn't do anything to hide the mirth from my grin when I simply said, "yes."

My short answer seemed to be more startling than I expected, he took a step back, but the surprise on my little brother's face disappeared as if it had never been there and anger took its place as he raised his fist to his chest and Ichigo leaned close into my personal space.

"I won't let you push me away again, nee-san, I can help!"

Again?

Push him away?

I felt the contraction of my muscles before my brain could make sense of it, my nerves burned, and my bones twisted as my left shoe bit the dirt beneath it, and my leg raised, carrying my rage with it.

Push him away?

I had never pushed Ichigo away, never.

For years I had made his bed, washed his clothes, made his food.

I was ashamed of my mistakes, ashamed of having failed him.

But I always hoped, deep in the back end of my heart I had ever dreamed he would one day forgive me and let me back into his life, I had never pushed him away from my life.

I needed him!

My knee smashed against his stomach. Bright blue veins flared under my skin as my anger burned pure Reishi through my blood.

"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted.

Ichigo's feet left the ground.

His body flew in the air, obscuring the shining sun from my eyes for an instant before he crashed in a piece of grassless dirt, elevating dust around him like a cloud.

I knew I was sinning, driven by pure stupid anger. I was born into this world as Ichigo's elder sister. My duty was to protect and guide him; love him and cherish him, yet here I was doing everything I should not.

But if the only way to keep Ichigo safe was to beat it into his thick skull…

"You think you got what it takes to fight Hollows, Ichigo?" I asked him out loud, I kept my chin high up, a smirk and my arms crossed in a pose that would look like I didn't care a bit about hurting his feelings even if my insides were melting in shame. "Prove it then, otouto."

I made sure to coat that last word with as much poison as I could get out of my body, the feeling of self-disgust was eating away at my entrails like maneating worms crawling inside my flesh.

I had to do it.

I didn't wait for Ichigo to stand, he had only one elbow on the ground and his head up when I began talking again, "Change of plans for tomorrow, Ichigo, tomorrow you will prove to me you got what it takes to join us."

"How?" He asked.

My smirk grew wider, and I scoffed. "Isn't it obvious?"

Gremmy was smiling.

Rukia was sweating.

Ichigo was staring at me like a lost child.

And my stomach was curdling.

"You will fight me," I said.

* * *

**[][][][][][][][][][]**

* * *

**Japan – Karakura Town – Kurosaki Clinic**

"I don't understand why do you have to fight!" Rukia said while her fingers clenched against my elbow, not enough to hurt me but enough that she probably thought she had me pinned down. "Do you like fighting that much?" she asked.

That last question drained my anger out of me and instead replaced it with confusion.

Before I could control my mouth, a simple and stupid, "huh?" came out of my lips that Rukia took as a queue for her to continue babbling.

"The state you left those Hollows in…" She said, and I felt her shiver through her hand on my elbow. "You tore them into pieces and then bullied Ichigo into submission. Do you like the violence that much?"

I stared at her. I had to admit that it surprised me how much guts Rukia had, someone else in her position would understand after everything that went down today that I could kill her with ease, yet here she was demanding answers off me like we were equals.

It made it hard to dislike her.

A smile crept into my lips, and somehow that seemed to bother Rukia enough to drop my arm and take a step back. It was hard to keep the smile thought since my eyes were dropping on me. I wanted to go to bed already, but I needed Rukia to be cooperative.

She seemed bright enough, maybe she would understand…

"You misunderstand me…" I started to say, prompting Rukia to come closer to me with a sparkle of curiosity in her eyes that almost made me giggle with how adorable it made her look. "… I dislike fighting, but I got no qualms with violence."

Rukia arched an eyebrow. "I don't get it."

I sighed, slapping my hands against my waist. I went to try to explain myself. "I don't like fighting. If I can, I would prefer to avoid it… but if I have to, I will make sure whoever I go against won't want to try again." I waved a hand in Rukia's direction, hoping to ease my last words since she seemed taken back by them. "Do you understand now?"

But rather than understanding, Rukia seemed more frustrated.

"Ichigo is your little brother." She wasn't looking at me anymore, her eyes instead glaring at her own feet while her shoulders trembled. "Why do you hate him?" she asked.

The way she said it with so much certainty as if she understood everything that was going on… it annoyed me.

But I was beyond done with this farce.

I wanted her to understand my point of view.

I wouldn't beat around the bush anymore.

"I love him more than life itself," I admitted to her. Rukia looked at me surprised, but I continued talking, "enough that I don't care if he hates me, as long as he is safe."

I considered this conversation done. I turned around and went to leave the room.

I grasped the doorknob and turned it, the hinges of the door cringed a little when I began opening the door, but then I heard Rukia talk behind me.

"Yet… you want Ichigo to love you too, right?"

her words dug daggers deep into my flesh, I flinched and forgot to breathe for an instance while all I could do was glare at the door.

Rukia didn't say anything else.

Only silence was left.

It was drowning me.

I needed out.

"Life is cruel," I said, and I ran away from the room.

When I came back, the lights were off, the closet's door was locked, and I heard Rukia's even breathes slither out from beneath it.

I went to bed. I wasn't expecting to sleep well, not that it would matter anyway, I didn't have anything planned to prepare for tomorrow's fight. I had no idea what someone who's about to break her own little brother would do for such occasion…

Life is cruel.

* * *

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* * *

**And that's the end of the episode! **

**Grand Fisher has begun to move, and we are reaching the climax of the Kurosaki twin's issue! The fight will happen in the next chapter, and much more! **

**This chapter was highly experimental. This is the first time ever that I have tried doing something resembling flashbacks. I would like to get some feedback about it since I'm not entirely sure I will ever use flashbacks again. **

**Also, I got asked how long do I plan to make this story. **

**The short answer is: I have no idea.**

**Now for the long answer: **

**The truth is that REstart: Bleach is my very first attempt at writing anything, I have always wanted to be a writer, but before I started this work I had never had the courage to write even a short story of my own, I never felt good enough. **

**Because of this, REstart: Bleach is really a big experiment for me. This work is meant to help me refind my skills and find what my limits are. **

**I know I will see this work to completion, it may take me a year, two, maybe more I don't know, but I will finish it. The thing that I have no idea is how long the story will be in terms of length. **

**The only thing I can promise is that REstart: Bleach will have all of the canon arcs of Bleach, including Fullbringer and obviously the Quincy arc, as well as one or two original arcs. **

**Now for the questions!**

**Last Episode's Question: ****Let's go with a funny one. If you were forced to choose one of the Gotei 13 captains as your gambling partner for poker night, who would you pick and why?**

**I'm going to choose Shunsui, both because of my big crush on him and also 'cuz I believe he would make the night a pretty fun one without creating any dangerous chaos.**

**Question of the Episode:**** Now that we know Bleach is coming back, Which Quincy are you more hyped to see animated in the anime? **


	15. An Update About Updates

**An update About Updates**

**Hello everyone, I'm sorry for the silence throughout this time. As you all know, Corona Virus has been messing around with all of us, and it sadly robbed me of most of the free time I expected to use writing my works.**

**My family runs a small restaurant that was heavily impacted by COVID-19. My parents had to lay off most of the employees and put my sister and me to work. I also sadly have to admit that I'm a bit of a natural idiot, and when my high school switched to online classes, I ended up struggling a lot more than I expected.**

**I never planned, nor do I have any plans on ever discontinuing any of my work unless I get struck by lightning and die on the spot (a bit dramatic but heck I needed a chuckle.) but these circumstances have kept me trying to catch up with life and no time to spare.**

**Things are slowly turning back to normal with summer vacations and business coming back to life, and thanks to that, I have recovered a little of my "me" time, which I am using to start writing again.**

**I won't promise on a date yet, but at least I can assure you I am writing the next chapters of both of my works and will try to have them up soon.**

**I'm sorry for the trouble and thank you for your patience.**

**I will be deleting this message when the next chapter appears. **

**Remember to stay safe and wear a mask, UninstallME out.**


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